


Possession

by brainofck



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-09
Updated: 2011-03-09
Packaged: 2017-10-16 19:52:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/168748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brainofck/pseuds/brainofck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SG-1's luck finally runs out. The ultimate mission failure. A month of possession.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Possession

The mission had gone from bad to worse. Looking back over the last thirty-six hours or so, it seemed clear that this had been an ambush from the beginning. How did they fall for it so easily?

Their attackers took Teal'c down with a ZAT immediately. Daniel could only guess they'd gotten him the same way, because he lost some time and resurfaced to a nightmare. Teal'c and Sam, and himself he realized when he tried to move, thoroughly trussed up and ignored. Jack was still fighting hard, but there was obviously no point. Half a dozen Jaffa were closing in on him. Two of them finally jumped him, and he went down.

The other Jaffa suddenly snapped to attention. Daniel twisted enough to see that a very elderly man had entered the cargo bay, assisted by a Jaffa, as well as another human. That was odd, for a goa'uld to send two human servants to deal with intruders. Daniel couldn't think of a time when they had ever encountered human attendants of a goa'uld outside the goa'uld's most secure sanctuaries.

Then the old man's eyes fell on him, and Daniel realized he'd made a mistake.

The eyes glowed gold.

But that couldn't be right. He'd never met a goa'uld in a host this ancient.

The goa'uld was standing over Jack now.

"Thank you for coming. I wasn't sure how much longer I'd be able to wait for you."

Not the voice of the goa'uld. The voice of the host. Jack's reply sounded completely obscene, even muffled by whatever the Jaffa had used to gag him. Daniel struggled to see what was happening, but the angle was wrong and too many people were in the way.

Suddenly, Sam and Teal'c, both much closer, were struggling and shouting again, Teal'c bellowing something in his native tongue about death and revenge - Daniel couldn't catch it all. Sam was just shouting frantically.

"Sir! No! Don't let him! Stop! You can't do this! No!"

Then Daniel realized. The goa'uld was kneeling over his prisoner. Daniel gritted his teeth. He couldn't see anything, but in his mind he envisioned the brush of mouths and imagined the hideous slither, and the pain of the beast gnawing the soft tissue at the back of the throat.

He knew it was over when the Jaffa who had crowded over Jack stood back and stepped away. The old man collapsed onto the floor. The Jaffa who had escorted him, the goa'uld's First Prime, Daniel could see now, lifted the body carefully and walked away.

Jack. No. Not Jack. The _goa'uld_ lay motionless on the floor.

* * *

Civilized dinner with his captor. How TV melodrama. The smell of the food made Daniel queasy.

The Jaffa that had retrieved him from their cell were impeccably well-mannered, but he'd known Teal'c long enough to recognize that smirk when he saw it. Smirking Jaffa could hardly be a good sign.

And dinner was perfect. Every dish one of his favorites, prepared exactly how he liked it, right down to the lime in his ice water. Which could only mean that _Jack_ had planned this meal. Which was enough to put him completely off it.

The goa'uld was just staring at him across the table, looking concerned and confused as Daniel finally gave up on eating and lay his fork back down on the napkin.

It was unsettling to be watched so intently by Jack, of all people. Knowing it was the goa'uld watching him was just creepy.

"I've never seen a host that old before," Daniel commented. Even small talk at a dinner party was better than this strange staring contest.

"Of course you have. Jack remembers Salmac's host."

Daniel did _not_ like that. The idea that the goa'uld was going to freely share every one of Jack's passing thoughts. It was going to make the possibility of finding some way out of this situation that much more remote.

"That was among the Tok'ra," Daniel replied. "I wasn't under the impression a system lord would keep a host that had a wrinkle or a grey hair."

"Ah. But you see, I agree with the Tok'ra, about the rewards of a true symbiotic relationship with the host. And they're right about the sarcophagus, too. I left mine behind the same day I blended with my first chosen, willing host, and I've never regretted it. So my hosts age in good health, and at the end of their natural lives, every four hundred years or so, I find a new human who wants to join with me. It's not difficult, when you are a benevolent god surrounded by devoted followers."

"Yet you took this host against his will. Colonel Jack O'Neill of the Tauri was too tempting to resist?" The goa'uld still wore Jack's SGC uniform. Daniel definitely felt ill.

"Slayer of system lords and destroyer of Jaffa armies..." The goa'uld's smile was broad and smug. Jack's smile, when he was really in the mood for a good gloat.

"You seem very pleased."

"I am. Because it's not just O'Neill. It's all three of the Tauri. And the shol'vah. I have enemies on all sides and scores to settle. Colonel O'Neill seems like the perfect ally to help me tip the balance."

"Enemies?" Daniel asked.

"My fellow goa'uld have never been comfortable with the fact that I blend with my host, rather than crush him. They see it as a perversion. The idea of sharing disgusts them as much as the idea of being a host repulses you. It's one of the reasons they hate the Tok'ra so much. I have particular difficulty with them, and I'm ready to eliminate some of my most frustrating rivals. That's why I brought you here. I chose my newest host very carefully."

"You do realize that Jack won't help you," Daniel said. "He won't be your ally after you've done this to him, no matter who your enemies might be. You're not going to find _blending_ with him very productive."

The goa'uld shrugged and gave him Jack's most apologetic smile.

"Not interested in the trials, tribulations and aspirations of a 'snakehead?' Jack is having the same reaction. You really are two sides of one coin, aren't you?"

"We've been friends a long time," Daniel said noncommittally.

"I am not a Tok'ra. I'm not interested in giving up my advantages as a goa'uld. I _like_ to be a god to my people. I _like_ wealth and power and command."

"But in one respect, I'm in complete agreement with them. There's so much to be learned and gained from blending. So many new joys to be discovered by becoming one with another spirit – another intelligent mind. I believe my success has come directly from my relationships with my hosts. And I expect Jack O'Neill will be no exception." He smiled, that smug Jack grin again. "Slayer of System Lords, after all…"

That was really more that Daniel could accept. He shoved his chair back and stood abruptly, leaning over the table so that he was face-to-face, eye-to-eye with the goa'uld.

"I'm sure you'll have a very interesting time blending with Jack," he hissed, letting go his reserve, not trying to restrain the anger and grief any longer. He spun on his heel, intending to stalk across the room - demand to be taken back to his cell.

And he couldn't do it.

"You can't bring yourself leave him alone, can you?" Jack murmured. God, no. Not Jack. The goa'uld, stealing Jack's voice.

The goa'uld stood in front of him now. He reached out and tilted Daniel's chin up. And kissed him.

Daniel leapt back in surprise, but the goa'uld followed him. Caught him in a super-human grip there was no point in fighting. Daniel went limp instead, so that the goa'uld took his whole weight, then with a couple of hard kicks and a good shove, Daniel toppled him over. But with the goa'uld pinned and winded beneath him, he looked into Jack's face and hesitated just a little too long, and lost his small advantage.

Daniel's world spun for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, and he was staring up at the monster.

"I expect that Jack and I will be able to come to terms. He's angry with me at the moment. He feels that I have taken everything from him."

"But there are certain things he can have now that he never dared to consider before."

"Do you know what he's thinking right now, in spite of everything, with you there, angry and helpless?"

Daniel looked away.

"He's wondering what you taste like."

"Yeah, well. Try kissing me again, and I'll bite you."

 _Bite you?!_ He felt like an idiot. He should have fought for real when he had the chance. Biting just sounded like rough foreplay. He flexed his wrists experimentally, but Daniel suspected that he couldn't have gotten loose from Jack from this position, much less a goa'uld. Well, couldn't hurt to give it a try. He gave a forceful twist and jerk of arms, shoulders and hips.

Mistake. The goa'uld just leered back down at him, and responded with his own shift of hips. Jack kissing him was bad enough. Jack _humping_ him was infinitely worse.

"You wouldn't bite Jack."

"Have you checked with Jack on that?" Daniel snapped back. "What does he think?"

The goa'uld paused momentarily, and Jack's forehead wrinkled the way it did when he was confused. Whatever internal dialog the goa'uld had with his host startled him. Jack's eyes flared gold, and the goa'uld lost his control over Jack's voice. His laughter reverberated with the parasite's growling distortions.

"Jack says he wouldn't put it past the little bastard," the goa'uld chortled to himself. Still laughing he stood swiftly, drawing Daniel up after him by the wrists, and yanking him hard, jerking his right arm up tight behind his back. The goa'uld urged him forward, away from the table toward the sitting area across the room.

Oh. Not good.

"While you're chatting with Jack, you should ask him what I'm going to think of holding hands with a goa'uld on the couch," he said, trying to sound angry, not panicked.

The goa'uld just laughed again and gently but firmly forced him face down into the cushions.

"I followed Jack's advice about not wearing a hand device to dinner with you," the goa'uld murmured in his ear. Jack's voice was back. The brush of lips against his ear made Daniel shiver. "But I brought along a few other toys I thought we might find helpful."

* * *

The bindings were silken soft. He could hardly feel them. But they were strong. When he pulled against them, his arms wouldn't move. There was no feeling of restraint at all. Just immobility.

Daniel struggled to sit, and felt better with both feet on the floor.

The goa'uld was pacing, quick and irritated. Daniel had seen _that_ so many times before. Jack, annoyed and frustrated, often enough by Daniel himself.

"You're not gonna make this easy, are you?" Yup. Frustrated Jack. Daniel was much more comfortable with frustrated Jack than amorous Jack. Back on familiar territory, Daniel was ready to breathe a sigh of relief.

Then the goa'uld pounced.

"Please don't make this difficult," the goa'uld growled. He found a grip on Daniel's hair and tipped his head, exposing Daniel's jugular.

"And if you don't bite, we won't."

The touch of Jack's lips was soft. Not at all what Daniel was expecting. Not Jack, the goa'uld, he reminded himself.

The goa'uld said "we."

How much of this was really Jack?

"I think somehow you've gotten the wrong idea about me and Jack," Daniel said, pleased his voice sounded calm an even. His heart was pounding, and he felt like he was having trouble catching his breath.

Jack chuckled, little puffs of breath against the now-damp skin of his neck making Daniel shiver. Jack lightly set his teeth to flesh. The second shiver was stronger.

"You have no idea how many times the only thing that kept Jack from bending you over your own desk and giving you a good seeing to was that damned security camera." The goa'uld or Jack or whoever he or they or… It was too confusing, and Daniel was too distracted to sort it though. At the moment it was somehow easier to think "Jack" than "goa'uld, and he wasn't sure he was happy about that.

So… _Jack_ had pushed Daniel's over shirt off his shoulder and was tugging at the neck of his t-shirt. The caress of light stubble against sensitive skin was almost unbearable. Daniel clenched his jaw against a moan, but the gentle rough soft touches were causing embarrassing and unexpected reactions. Not just shivers. Twitches now. Jack was sucking softly, and Daniel was getting lost in the moment.

Then Jack was pushing him down onto his back, and Daniel remembered that this was a very bad idea.

He struggled some, but Jack just laughed at him, and tugged him by the hair hard enough to tip Daniel's head back. Jack's tongue moved to the hollow of Daniel's neck, then up over and around his Adam's apple and up the underside of his chin, to slip messily over his mouth. The kiss was wet and deep.

Daniel didn't bite.

It was shockingly easy to give in to the illusion of Jack. Daniel would wonder why that was later.

For now, Jack was holding him hard by the hair, though not really for control anymore. Daniel had clearly surrendered. He seemed to want the perfect angle for kissing him breathless. When Jack finally broke off the kiss, Daniel swallowed hard and opened his eyes.

There was Jack, perched above him, looking like he hardy knew what to do next. Catching Daniel watching him, he had the grace to blush.

When he reached out and gently took Daniel's glasses away, Daniel didn't argue.

The brief pause seemed to be all Jack needed to regroup. His fingers found the hem of Daniel's shirt and pushed it up as far as his bound arms would allow. Then Daniel was drowning in an onslaught of kissing and licking and gentle bites.

Jack attacked a nipple, alternately sucking and licking with a broad, flat tongue. When he had Daniel arching into it, begging for it, Jack stopped and took sensitive flesh very carefully between his teeth. Daniel whimpered as Jack bit, so, so lightly, licking behind his teeth, until Daniel heard himself whispering little words of pleasure that he really shouldn't be saying to his unit commander. Or his best friend. Or the goa'uld who had captured his team and snaked Jack.

Jack groaned in response.

He moved on eventually, following a wandering line across Daniel's chest, then lower, back across his abdomen, pushing down the waist of his pants to find the perfect spot high on Daniel's hip, then he settled in to licking and sucking again.

Jack's hands wandered.

His palm settled over Daniel's embarrassingly growing erection. The warm pressure was just enough to torment. Daniel squirmed, but that sent little thrills up his spine. He forced himself to be still, but he couldn't quite bring himself to tell Jack he was going too far, even as Jack continued to caress the curve of his hip with tongue and teeth, and that wandering hand began to gently squeeze and massage.

He really ought to say something. Like _no._ Or _stop._

But it felt amazing. And it was Jack.

 _Not Jack_ , said a little wheedling voice in the back of his brain, maybe his conscience. Maybe his better judgment. But his cock was running the show now, depriving his grey matter of blood and oxygen. This was Jack. Daniel went with that.

Then the wandering hand was groping at the fastenings of his pants.

"No!" Daniel yelped in panicked surprise. He pushed with his feet and managed to slip out from under the body above him, struggling to sit and drawing up his knees defensively. Jack didn't try to stop him. Just remained crouched as he had been.

The frustrated, angry look was back. Eyes flared gold.

The goa'uld stood and swept from the room, leaving Daniel shaking.

* * *

"DanielJackson."

A familiar, gentle voice disturbed his sleep. He blinked groggily at his friend.

"Teal'c?"

"Major Carter is here, as well."

Daniel was curled against the back of the couch, where he had fallen asleep trying to keep the pressure off his arms.

"Can you do something about this," he asked, turning enough so that Teal'c could see the bindings.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. That could mean so many things, but Daniel suspected this time it indicated surprise.

"Indeed," Teal'c replied. Sam was watching with interest. Teal'c reached behind him and Daniel felt the restraints fall away. The sudden release of his arms made him groan. They were numb and tingling, and they were going to hurt like hell in a few minutes.

"So what's going on?" he asked, trying to clear his head. Sam handed him his glasses.

"We thought we might ask you that," she replied. "Apparently, we've been _chosen_ to attend this goa'uld's human consort. She's lonely and needs companions, or so we've been told. Personally, I'm not sure we're really _attendant_ material, but I figure, if she's human, there's a chance we could gain a sympathetic ear and get her help to get out of this place. Maybe even to take Jack with us."

Teal'c was watching Daniel closely. Daniel found he couldn't hold his direct gaze. He let his eyes slip away to fall on the coiled threads of the bindings where Teal'c had let them fall to the floor.

"So what do you think? Did he change his mind about introducing us to his queen?"

"Not queen," Teal'c corrected her reflexively.

"Fine. Consort. What's the delay?"

"There is no delay, Major Carter."

Teal'c reached out to lightly touch the mark on Daniel's neck.

* * *

"Incoming wormhole, sir. No signal, but we've got M.A.L.P. telemetry."

The picture was fuzzy. But it was definitely O'Neill.

"Colonel, what's your status? You're more than twenty-four hours overdue."

"We've had a little problem on this end, sir. A big problem, actually. A big, kinda embarrassing problem..."

"Colonel?"

"SG-1 has been _invited_ by this system lord to act as technical military advisors against a half-dozen local rivals."

"Colonel, has your team been taken prisoner?"

"Yes, sir." O'Neill clearly didn't want to admit it.

"Then, not to put too fine a point on this, how is it that you are contacting us now?"

"This goa'uld claims that he has no interest in Earth or our part of the galaxy. He says he's giving us an opportunity to help him get rid of some pretty nasty snakes. And as a gesture of good will, he has suggested that we phone home for some take-out Chinese, get your okay, then have an all night strategy session to come up with some fresh ideas about how he could knock these guys out."

"If you could send somebody to The Lotus for us, you could take it out of my next check."

"Colonel, I'll let you make the judgment in the field about whether it is in our best interest to help this goa'uld or not. But your codes are being cancelled as we speak. If you want to come home, you're going to have to call for an escort."

"Understood, General."

"And if you want your dinner, I want to see all of SG-1 alive and well on the other side of that monitor when we dial back."

* * *

The goa'uld wasn't there when they were escorted to the Gate.

"His Lordship instructs that you speak to the General of the Tauri though the instrument there, and accept the items that he sends you through the Stargate."

The General reacted very badly to their news.

"Major Carter, you are to offer no assistance this goa'uld. Your orders are to escape, and bring Colonel O'Neill back with you if possible. If not, I know you are all aware of his wishes regarding a possible infestation by a goa'uld. And with his knowledge of this base and it's operations, he's too big a liability to be left behind. If you can't bring him out with you, I want that goa'uld dead, at all costs. And we all know that's what Colonel O'Neill wants, too."

"Understood, sir."

* * *

"Well, that was bizarre," Daniel said bemusedly, as they reentered his suite with arms full of Lotus takeout bags.

* * *

The Jaffa entered the room with a deferential bow.

"My apologies for interrupting, Dr. Jackson," he said quietly. He turned to Sam and Teal'c.

"His Lordship has instructed that I should show you to your quarters."

"No," said Sam bluntly. "I'm not going to leave Daniel here by himself." Teal'c's heavy menace at her side was enough to make the Jaffa shift nervously.

"Major, I assure you that Dr. Jackson will be perfectly safe. He is better protected than my master himself."

"Funny, that doesn't make me feel any better about leaving," she spat back.

The Jaffa refused to be baited. More soldiers had entered the room while they were speaking. They stood respectfully at attention, but the threat was clear.

"Major. Teal'c. His Lordship has requested that you be shown to your quarters. They are very near and quite comfortable."

"I think it's time for you to go," Daniel said.

"Daniel..." she protested.

"Everything's going to be OK, Sam," Daniel assured her. Teal'c was watching him again.

"Good night, DanielJackson," Teal'c said quietly, inclining his head.

Sam just gave him a worried look and trailed out of the room after Teal'c.

* * *

After they left, Daniel couldn't settle. He paced the rooms that made up his small suite. He found a reading device*, and tried to flop on the couch to explore what was on it. But it was in Goa'uld. Too much work to translate while flopping. He tossed it to the floor and paced again. What he wouldn't give for some sagas in Old Norse…

If they were going to be here for a while, maybe he could put in a request.

They hadn't been able to come up with anything particularly useful over dinner, and had agreed that they would have to be alert and watch for opportunities. But none of them were particularly optimistic. Jack knew them too well. More to the point, they had managed too many great escapes with Jack as their leader. He knew the stupid things the bad guys did when they took prisoners.

And Jack knew, of course, that they would be trying to either rescue him, or kill him on the way out.

Since they had to presume that the goa'uld knew what Jack knew, they expected this combination of knowledge and expectations would keep them immobilized for at least several days until opportunities to escape began to present themselves.

Daniel had the terrible suspicion that this mission was going to end as badly as it had started, with himself as Jack's assassin and all of the rest of them dead. None of them said it, but he knew them well enough to see it in their eyes. They all knew.

Which of course meant Jack knew, too.

Frustrated and headachy, he gave up waiting for the goa'uld to appear, and went to bed.

* * *

He woke when the bed shifted. Daniel didn't wait, but slipped out the other side, away from the goa'uld. He wanted to meet his captor on his feet, not on his back. The goa'uld sighed heavily and flipped on a bedside lamp. He looked tired. Like Jack after a very long and difficult mission, when he would announce he was going home to sleep for eighteen hours.

"Daniel, let me apologize for what happened last night. I'm very sorry about that."

It was the voice of the goa'uld for the moment, not hiding behind Jack.

"The best way you could make up for it? Stop referring to me as your _consort_. Were you doing that already, when you sent for me to have dinner with you? That would certainly explain the Jaffa giggling behind their hands."

The goa'uld smiled and shrugged.

"Come to bed, Daniel."

Daniel blinked.

"I thought you were apologizing for your behavior last night. How does that fit in with a new proposition?"

The goa'uld was visibly trying not to let Daniel provoke him.

"Daniel, I already told you what I want from you. That you are part of what I am offering Col. O'Neill. That hasn't changed. You let him kiss you last night. You let him touch you. Come to bed. We won't go any farther then you want to go."

"Great. Then I'm just going right out to sleep in the chair out there," Daniel said, heading for the door.

The goa'uld jumped from the bed to stop him.

The goa'uld in the form of a very naked, very aroused Jack O'Neill.

Daniel took a step back. The goa'uld followed him.

"Just. Stop." Daniel said, trying not to sound flustered or afraid. "You say you are doing this for Jack. But I think we both know that Jack wouldn't want this - like this."

The goa'uld sighed. When he spoke again, the bass vibration was gone, and it was Jack's voice.

"Strip off, Daniel, and come to bed."

"And what if I don't?" he asked angrily.

"There are Jaffa outside who can help."

"Oh. _That_ would make Jack really happy," Daniel replied acidly. He stepped back across the room. The goa'uld caught the over-shirt that hit him square in the chest. T-shirt hit the floor. Pants and underwear followed.

The goa'uld's eyes roved over him.

"So what's Jack think?" Daniel asked.

The goa'uld was crossing the short distance across the room to him. Daniel forced himself to be calm and still. He wished he could just believe the Jack-illusion again, as he had last night. But this was too distant from any reality that could involve Jack.

Jack just wouldn't.

The goa'uld was standing directly in front of him now, so that he had to look up to meet his eye. Long arms reached out and encircled him, drawing him against Jack's chest. The goa'uld held him tightly, bringing naked skin together. Jack's cock was crushed between them, hard against Daniel's belly.

"I'm not going to pretend that this is only about Jack," the goa'uld replied. Jack's voice was roughening. Daniel thought that of all of this, the thing that was most _wrong_ was that voice. He shouldn't hear that lust in Jack's voice.

"I was joined with my last host for 450 years. I loved him." The goa'uld's fingers found their way to Daniel's hair and twined there absently as the goa'uld spoke. His voice was barely more than a whisper, turned inward and a little sad.

"He and I met as my host before that was coming to the end of a long life. We blended when he was just 17, and we were perfect for each other. As he grew older, beyond the normal lifetime of a blended human, I actually thought of a sarcophagus for the first time in 3000 years…"

"By the end he was very frail. We hadn't had a lover in decades. Now here I am in this strong, healthy body… I'd forgotten how powerful the urges and needs can be in a human in his prime."

Daniel shifted restlessly and was surprised that the goa'uld didn't try to hold him as he pulled away. Giving in to the inevitability - he knew where he was going to end up anyway - Daniel went and lay back down on the bed, crawling under the covers and laying down on his side.

"I don't see why you need me for that," Daniel stated flatly. "I would imagine you could ask almost any person on this ha'tak, and they would join you gladly. Why choose one of the three people here that you know won't do this willingly?"

The goa'uld shrugged. Jack's face was apologetic.

"Not only has it been 450 years since I joined with a new host. It's been nearly 2000 years since I chose a host that I had not carefully selected and groomed to be a perfect match for me. Not to mention that Jack is the oldest human with whom I have ever joined. Blending is a delicate thing with any host. Blending with a host that has lived a life of his own already… Jack is the most amazing human mind I have ever met."

"Major Carter has told you about her experience of Jolinar's memories. You have discussed Jacob's experience with Salmac."

"Jack's thoughts are in many ways my thoughts now. His memories and experiences feel like my own. And Jack wants you. His desire is my desire. And his desire is strong. And I don't share his will to deny myself what we both want."

The goa'uld lay down facing him and reached out again to touch his hair.

"So in a way, I'm as trapped by you as you are stuck with me."

"No. You're not. And don't try to blame this on me, or Jack, or anyone but yourself."

"Alright, I won't," the goa'uld whispered, pressing Daniel back into the mattress and leaning over him, exploring Daniel's bare, exposed skin with Jack's rough fingers. The heat of his erection was a constant presence between them, like a third entity in the bed.

Lips and tongue soon followed fingers, but unlike yesterday night, Daniel couldn't lose himself in it. No matter what the goa'uld said about going only as far as Daniel wanted, he knew where this was leading.

The goa'uld's licking was taking him down Daniel's body, tongue leaving damp warm-then-cool trails on his skin. He made love to Daniel's belly button, then began moving farther southwards.

When he didn’t find what he was expecting, he finally stopped. He sat back on his heels and looked down at Daniel, worry and concern written all over Jack's face.

"Why are you _both_ so difficult," the goa'uld muttered to himself.

Daniel didn't bother to answer that.

Then the goa'uld changed his tactics. He crawled back up Daniel's body, and settled on top of him. Then he kissed him. Gently and sweetly. When he got no response, he kissed his way down Daniel's jaw, nibbled at his ear, gently caressing the shell with his tongue, tracing the swirls and curves. When Daniel turned his head away, he just kissed his mouth again.

Then suddenly, he stopped. The goa'uld pulled back, as if startled. Then he scrambled off him and out of the bed and stared at Daniel in horror.

Oh, God.

Not the goa'uld anymore.

Jack.

* * *

He stood there with huge eyes. One trembling hand, seemingly of its own accord, found its way to his own lips, touching them tentatively.

"Daniel?" His voice cracked.

Daniel swallowed hard. His first impulse was to leap across the room and hug his friend and tell him that _everything's OK. You're alright._

Except that everything wasn't, and particularly Jack wasn't alright, and Daniel was mortified that knowing that it was Jack standing there now, for real, already had him half hard. He didn't think that a hug from him was going to be very comforting to Jack right now.

"Jack, it's OK. I know this isn't your fault." It was the best he could manage, under the circumstances.

"Oh, yeah," Jack replied in a shaky voice. "Oh, it definitely is."

He turned suddenly and made for the door. And came up as sharply as if he'd hit a wall.

"God, get this thing out of my head," he yelled. He went to his knees, yanking at his own hair with both hands, cursing _goddamnmotherfuckingsonofabitch_.

Daniel found himself across the room, gripping Jack tightly by the wrists. Then he was holding him, crying, whispering his name over and over, murmuring the soothing refrain that he had rejected earlier.

"It's alright, Jack. Everything's going to be OK. Jack, it's OK…"

* * *

"Why don't we get up from here?" Daniel finally suggested, when both of them were finally breathing normally again. "I can't believe you haven't complained about your knees yet."

Jack was still clinging to him for dear life, but he chuckled weakly and began to let go.

"One of the only benefits of a snake in your head. He's fixed my knees."

They helped each other to stand, and suddenly they were face to face again, and much too close for comfort. Daniel stepped back and turned to leave the bedroom.

"There might still be some take out left," he said, palming the door switch.

Jack didn't follow him.

"He won't let me leave this room," Jack said quietly.

Daniel sighed in resignation and shut the door again.

"He won't let you leave the room meaning – we're supposed to take up where we left off, but with you in charge, now?"

"Yeah, something like that," Jack agreed.

"Well," Daniel shrugged and sprawled back on the bed, "let's see what you've got, then."

Jack blushed furiously.

"I'm not doing this, Daniel."

Daniel pushed back up onto his elbows.

"Oh, yeah, you are," he said. "The snake in your head has made that pretty clear. He thinks this is the key to your soul. Not to mention that he hasn't gotten any in fifty years or so. You've got to know better than I do that we're going to do this, one way or the other."

"And honestly? I'd rather do this with you than him."

Jack still looked embarrassed and distressed. God, how could this be more surreal. Daniel definitely did not want the goa'uld to come back. So what? Seduce Col. Jack O'Neill? Daniel wondered in how many languages he could say _motherfuckingsonofabitch_?

"Unless of course, you're not up to it, old man? Or you don't know what to do with that thing?" Daniel said with a little smirk.

"You can't do better than that, Daniel? That would be lame, even from me."

"Fine," Daniel replied with a huff. He hopped back out of the bed and was standing in front of Jack again in two strides. Before Jack could startle back away from him, he brushed by Jack's protesting hands and wrapped his arms around his shoulders and reached up and kissed him.

The kiss brought them together at chest, hip, belly and thigh, and it was all not-quite right. Hard where there should be curves. Hair where there should be smooth. Jack's erection, caught between them again, and his own coming on strong, rising to meet it. The whole thing was bizarre, right down to the sensation of being a head shorter than the person he was kissing, standing on tiptoe for the right angle. Bizarre.

But somehow working.

Jack's weakly flailing hands finally came to rest, one hesitant on the back of Daniel's hip, the other slipping deliberately around the curve of his skull.

Daniel felt the moment Jack gave in.

The hand on his hip became an arm around his waist, lifting him just enough to make him the perfect height, and in the process, bring their cocks together in a way that brought a groan from both of them that vibrated through their kiss. Daniel found himself off-balance, clinging to Jack tightly, and he wondered absently if this was one of the reasons women liked to date a tall guy – this feeling of the world falling away.

He didn’t realize that Jack had walked him backwards until his calves hit the edge of the bed, and he completely lost his balance, his backwards fall managed neatly by Jack, who landed on top of him and grinned down at him smugly.

And suddenly Daniel had had enough of being the girl. Here was Jack, for the moment himself, and Daniel wasn't at all sure how long he would have him. With a surge that surprised Jack, Daniel pounced, reversing their positions.

He perched on Jack's chest and gazed down at him thoughtfully. He let his fingers play in Jack's hair, as he rolled his hips occasionally.

"How much of this is you?" Daniel asked. He hated to bring up the goa'uld, even tangentially, but he had to know, and this might be his only opportunity to ask.

Jack blushed and the nervous look came back again, so Daniel leaned down and kissed him. Carefully and thoroughly, with lots of tongue and some teeth, until Jack was making small appreciative noises, and squirming under him, trying to get contact and friction that Daniel was making very difficult from his position of better leverage.

"How much?" Daniel finally asked again, not stopping the kiss, but changing it, licking and kissing along Jack's jaw to draw the swirls of his ear, sucking and licking and nibbling there, until Jack was panting. The whimper Daniel finally drew from him sent a quiver through Daniel's body. His cock twitched hard against Jack's belly.

"Fuck!" Jack swore and suddenly he shoved Daniel off. Daniel laughed and Jack attacked him, wrestling him around until Daniel was on his back looking up at Jack again.

"Lube," Jack practically snarled. But of course, Jack knew exactly where it was, because he had put it there, in a way. He reached out to pop the little panel in the headboard, and brought out the small jar of cream.

"You do know what to do with that?" Daniel asked, apprehension winning out for the moment over pounding lust.

Jack just grinned down at him wickedly, smeared the cream over his palm, and reached down between them.

He caught both their hard cocks in his slicked hand. The surprise of that first touch made Daniel yelp. Jack made a sort of gasping sound that changed to a whimper, as he pumped the slick hand twice over their hot, hard flesh. Then he took his hand away.

"Bastard," Daniel groaned, trying to thrust up against the body above him. But Jack was moving, kneeling above him now.

"Roll over," he said, dropping down for a kiss that brought only their mouths together. Daniel tried to reach up and drag him down for more contact, but Jack sat back again. "Over!" he laughed.

"You know what you're doing?" Daniel couldn't stop himself from asking, as he squirmed over onto his belly. Jack caught him behind one knee and Daniel allowed himself to be manhandled into position, with one leg tucked up under him, knee to chest.

The pause that followed was long enough to make Daniel twist his head around, to try to see what was going on. Jack was just staring down at him. He reached out a hand and trailed trembling fingers down Daniel's exposed back and arched spine. Then he bent down and kissed him. Between the shoulders. In the dip of his lower back. At the rise of a buttock. Then ran his tongue down and over the curve of his ass to the back of his thigh.

"You taste amazing," he whispered, the feel of lips and the slight brush of a day-old shave against the back of his knee making Daniel feel dizzy and desperate.

* * *

The cream on Jack's fingers was cool then warm. Daniel wondered if even in this small thing the goa'uld had managed some sort of advance – because he was sure that a good finger-fucking could not possibly be making him this delirious with lust. That's what it felt like. As if he were feverish and completely losing touch with reality. The whole universe narrowed down to what Jack was doing to him. Jack's forearm across Daniel's back, left hand, firmly holding his ass, weighing and pinning him in place. The fingers of Jack's right hand moving in and out of him, pausing when Jack slicked them again, but always coming back to a careful, persistent rhythm.

It was good that Jack was holding him down, because when Jack had first found Daniel's prostate, he'd jumped hard. He'd been reduced to begging and cursing, the feeling of being held in place almost as good as the way Jack was unerringly caressing him from the inside out.

* * *

Jack's cock was bigger than his fingers. And better. And worse. Daniel was painfully aroused, certain again that the cream smeared over his own dick was magnifying everything, but positioned as he was, he couldn't touch himself or even try to bring himself off against the mattress beneath him. He was trapped and immobile, as Jack took up a long, rocking stroke that went on and on. His hands roved over Daniel's back and ass, slick fingers of his right hand feathering over the sensitive back of Daniel's thigh and knee. Daniel's entire body was coiled impossibly tight around itself. He had lost the ability for coherent thought, when Jack repositioned his knees so that rather than kneeling above him, he brought his chest down flush with Daniel's back. His weight was a delicious new torment, crushing Daniel down into the softness of the bed. The long strokes quickened, and as Jack was shuddering to his climax, he whispered into Daniel's hair.

"All of it. Everything. Every single bit of it is true."

Daniel felt the sweat pouring off his lover in hot, heavy droplets. It felt like tears.

* * *

Jack collapsed over him in his afterglow and Daniel panted into the sheets.

"One of us has got to finish me off," he begged plaintively.

Jack caught him under the folded knee, and with a deft movement, flipped him onto his back.

And went down on him.

Sucked and licked and Daniel was so ready he came screaming in seconds.

* * *

When he came down off the dizzying high of it, Daniel turned his head to look at Jack, who was laying on his back next to him, an arm thrown across his eyes.

Feeling him move, Jack rolled over and propped himself on an elbow over him.

"Now that wasn't so difficult, was it?" the goa'uld growled.

His eyes were gold.

The smirk was Jack's smirk. The one that lead Daniel to his most viscious and uncalled-for acts of verbal assault. The one that Sam had so wanted to wipe off Jack's smug face so many times and Daniel knew it was only the threat of courtmartial that kept her from bloodying the nose of a superior officer. He was quite frankly at a loss for how Teal'c had restrained himself for so long.

But tonight, the flush of orgasm hardly faded, Daniel's heart wrenched in his chest. Anger and grief and fear mixed with lust and adrenaline and he was speechless. So he left.

A paramilitary lifestyle had taught him a few things. He hit the floor moving fast, scooped up clothes on the way, and was dressed by the time he passed the remains of thier dinner on the table in the front room. The door opened for him, and he strode out into the ha'tak, just short of a jog, not seeing the goa'uld behind him, shaking his head at the Jaffa who would have stopped him.

* * *

He ended up at Teal'c's door. He had been walking the halls and rooms and decks of the vast ship for hours, trailed by a discreet escort of Jaffa. But every door had opened. He had seen cargo bays, death gliders, Jaffa quarters, kitchens, ceremonial rooms, operations rooms - just about everything the ship had to offer, though he had deliberately stayed clear of anyplace he might meet the goa'uld - just noting routes to the pel'tak, but never going for a closer look.

Teal'c stepped aside to let him enter the room. Daniel wondered what time it was in the ship's day. Suddenly he turned back to the Jaffa that had been following him all this time.

"How do we get breakfast in this place?" he asked.

"Just tell me what you wish, and I will relay the message to the kitchens immediately."

Daniel looked at Teal'c.

"Yogurt," Teal'c said obliquely.

Daniel turned back to the Jaffa.

"Eggs, bacon, toast, juice, coffee, yogurt, granola, fruit, and whatever pastries you can come up with. And where's Major Carter?"

"There is a connecting room through here, DanielJackson," Teal'c said from behind him.

"Great! Thanks," he said, and shut the door in the Jaffa's face.

* * *

"So what's our next move, then?" Sam asked. She had attacked breakfast with enthusiasm.

"Well, I had a good look around in the last few hours. I'm pretty sure I can get us from point A to point B when the time comes." Daniel, still shaken from his experience the night before, could only manage some fruit on his nervous stomach. The bit of Danish he'd tried had just made him feel queasy.

"When the time comes… I wonder how long it will take for him to let down his guard?" she said thoughtfully.

"Given enough time, I believe that I may be able to persuade members of the crew to join our cause," Teal'c said. He took another spoonful of his yogurt.

"Well, I think we can assume we'll be here a while," said Daniel.

"Meanwhile," continued Sam, "He seems to have given us pretty broad access to the computer databases and libraries on this ship. I tried the terminal in my quarters last night, and I don't think I was denied access to anything."

"Find anything interesting?" Daniel asked.

"Maybe. Almost all of it was in Goa'uld. I could use your help with it, actually. Or maybe he'd even give me a technical translator. I think part of his strategy to keep us here might be giving us this information. I think there's stuff in there about weapons and shields, space travel technology, medical and biological research… Massive amounts of incredibly valuable information at our fingertips, if we stay here long enough to get through it."

"He's offering us something in return for our cooperation," Teal'c said, discreetly licking his spoon.

* * *

The door slid open behind him as he poured over the schematic Sam had pulled up on the display panel. She really was going to have to ask for a technical translator. The scientific Goa'uld was well beyond his mastery of the language.

"Wow. Nice outfit," Sam said.

 _His Lordship_ must have arrived.

He was all in black. Leather pants, with black studs up the outside seams. A fitted black silk shirt with short sleeves. A tight black vest that was more rope than leather, with intricate lacings up the sides and front. The ribbon device ran around Jack's muscular forearm in it's delicate spiral. The thought occurred to Daniel that if they could ever de-snake him, Jack and Sam would have to work on ways to incorporate the ribbon devices into their field gear. Daniel wondered if Jack could manage a P90 with that thing on.

He looked strong. Lean. Elegant. Dangerous. Beautiful.

All things, Daniel realized, Jack always had been, when he was at his best.

To Daniel's surprise and complete mortification, his dick twitched. Hard.

"I understand from Col. O'Neill that you have a very low opinion of what he thinks of as 'Goa'uld fashion-sense'. This was the first thing I put on that didn't have him doubled over and crying in hysterics." The goa'uld smiled thinly.

"It must be difficult having someone who truly despises you living inside your own head," Sam said cuttingly, though from the flush in her cheeks and the guilty slide of her eyes, Daniel wondered if maybe she had spontaneously ovulated when she saw Jack all in black leather and rope.

The goa'uld disregarded her comment.

"I have brought you the technical translator you wanted," he said. It was only then that Daniel realized that a human servant was trailing behind the goa'uld. He now stepped forward with a nervous smile.

"He will assist you with anything you need. He is expert at translating scientific terminology between Goa'uld and English. He is also intimately familiar with our data systems and can guide you to whatever topics interest you most. Take whatever notes you wish, and whenever we are not in hyperspace, you may use the Stargate and the M.A.L.P. to send whatever information you like back to the Tauri."

The look of shock on Sam's face was nearly comical. Daniel expected Jack's smug look again, but the goa'uld, if anything, appeared angry.

He turned and stalked over to Teal'c.

"You will not turn my Jaffa, because they have no reason to hate me. My people will not help you to escape. They will not join your rebellion, though I would certainly encourage you to sow whatever seeds of insurrection seemed good to you among the Jaffa of my enemies."

The goa'uld turned to face them all.

"You should know that Col. O'Neill believes that the best way to keep you here is constant vigilance. You are being monitored in real time. Monitors and sensors are watching you constantly, and there are real Jaffa on the other side, all day, all night, every day."

Finally, he turned to Daniel.

There was no doubt about it. He was furious.

"Dr. Jackson, if you will do me the courtesy of joining me at the pel'tak in half an hour. I trust you know your way there, and I won't have to send Jaffa to fetch you."

Then he turned and stalked out of the room.

* * *

The goa'uld caught him hard by the waist and spun him to face the pel'tak. He ground his erection hard against Daniel's ass, reaching around to undo the button and zip on his pants. Daniel found himself bent over a the waist, facedown on the control panel, half-naked before he even knew what had happened.

Daniel could feel the gem of the goa'uld's hand device grind into his back where the goa'uld held him firmly between the shoulder blades.

Two saliva slick fingers pushed in and Daniel swore.

"If you want more than spit for lube, you'd better learn to carry something with you." Daniel heard the goa'uld spit, and realized he was slicking himself. Daniel tried to relax, but it was difficult. This was going to hurt.

And it did. Hurt more than he had imagined. He gritted his teeth and bit down on sounds of pain, turning them into curses or non-sounds. He managed to brace his hands on the surface to give himself some leverage, but as soon as he did that the goa'uld growld and kicked at Daniel's feet, spreading his legs as wide apart as possible while his pants still bound his thighs.

The goa'uld didn't hold back his sounds of pleasure. Grunts and groans and little murmured expressions of lust and coarse endearments in a mixture of English and Goa'uld. Daniel was remotely glad, though, that the goa'uld couldn't control Jack's voice in this frenzy.

Daniel wouldn't have to remember Jack doing this to him.

When he was done, he pulled out roughly. The abruptness of it and their position caused his ejaculant to seep back out, slipping down Daniel's inner thigh.

Daniel stood unsteadily, and pulled up his pants. The goa'uld was tucking himself away, rearranging his clothing. The Jaffa guard and pilot of the ship all stood by impassively, pretending not to notice the proceedings.

"Do you know how long I waited for you to return to me last night?" the goa'uld demanded. "I was reduced to relieving myself. Twice. You are my consort. And I will have need of your services. You will not abandon me like that again, or I can make life here very unpleasant for you."

Daniel said nothing as he slowly pulled himself back together. But he knew he didn't have to say anything. Jack was in that goa'uld's head.

When Daniel looked the goa'uld in the eye again, he imagined he could even see the conflict there.

"Get out," the goa'uld finally ordered him.

* * *

He walked the ship again, retracing his steps of the previous night, trying new corridors.

Finally he stopped, taking a deep breath and turning to his ever-present Jaffa shadow.

"Clothes? Shower?"

"You'll find everything you need in your quarters," the Jaffa replied. Daniel thought maybe he looked worried.

"Great," he replied. "No thanks." He turned to walk some more.

"Dr. Jackson," the Jaffa ventured, "I can get you back there without meeting any of the rest of SG-1, if that's what you want. And if you will let me station my men inside the suite, they won't be able to tell that you've returned."

"Show me."

* * *

The goa'uld came to him after he'd gone to bed again. He came into the dark room and slipped under the covers.

"I'm sorry I was angry earlier," he began. Jack's voice this time.

Daniel said nothing. He didn't react in any way.

"It's difficult for me. I am right on the edge of completely losing control. I realize I hurt you, and I really am sorry." He was pleading. He sounded very, very tired.

He was also all hands.

"We had this conversation about 24 hours ago. It's not going to get you any more sympathy from me now than it did then."

The goa'uld accepted that and stopped trying to apologize. Instead he attempted seduction. Daniel didn't try to hide that he flinched from the goa'uld's attempts at gentle caresses and soft kisses. He finally gave up on all pretext of lovemaking.

"Hands and knees, Daniel," he said quietly.

As a precaution, Daniel had prepared himself, this time. The goa'uld reached for the little compartment above the bed, but he could tell at his first touch that Daniel was ready.

Jack must have gotten that message loud and clear.

"Daniel," he said. The remorse was clear in his tone.

"Just do it and get it over with," Daniel snarled. "And I'd appreciate it if you'd quit trying to pretend to be Jack. Use your own voice, you fucking snake."

It didn't stop him. The goa'uld fucked him anyway. But Daniel took a certain spiteful satisfaction in the fact that it certainly wasn't the romp in the sack he might have been hoping for after Daniel's performance with Jack the last time.

* * *

"Are you alright?" Sam asked him.

She had been practically bouncing for almost an hour, full of all that she had been able to learn with the help of her assistant, whom Daniel noted absently was also sweet, charming, and very attractive. The goa'uld had certainly seen Sam coming.

"No, I'm not alright. Who knew sleeping with the enemy would be so difficult?"

He hadn't quite meant to say that, but that was how it came out. At least he had the nerve to look her in the eye while he said it. She blushed.

"Has the goa'uld allowed O'Neill to communicate with you?" Teal'c asked.

"Once. Two nights ago. I think Jack's seriously messing with his head. I've never seen a goa'uld in quite the state he's in. Exhausted is the best description. Edgy. Moody – first he's angry and imperious, like every goa'uld you've ever met, then he's apologetic and nervous.

"I don't think we've ever seen that, even in a Tok'ra. Much less in a system lord," Sam said.

"How was Jack?" she asked, after a long pause.

Daniel laughed. It sounded bitter.

"We didn't talk much, honestly. He seemed as well as could be expected under the circumstances. Though at one point he tried to rip his own head open to get the snake out."

The room was quiet a long time after that. SG-1 sat and thought their own separate thoughts.

* * *

It had been a week of long nights of sex. Sometimes the goa'uld came to him in the day, as well. It had gotten easier. The goa'uld insisted on using Jack's voice, and Daniel gave in. He felt guilty because of it. Like he was betraying the real Jack. But he let himself give in to the illusion of Jack, and the whole thing was easier. Like that very first night, on the couch.

If he let it be Jack, the sex was good. There had been no repetition of that time at the pel'tak. Daniel came. He allowed himself to be taught to suck. Daniel whispered Jack's name into the sheets, the pillow, the goa'uld's kisses.

And he hated himself more and more each passing day. He didn't know how long he could last like this. Only a week, or a week and a few days, and he wanted to slit his own wrists.

* * *

"You're miserable," the goa'uld observed.

The gold in his eyes flared and died back to the familiar deep brown. But he was goa'uld through and through tonight, and his voice resonated with the strange distortion.

"Is there anything I could do to make you happier?"

"Drop us off on the nearest gate world."

"Don't be childish. A real answer, please."

He would regret it.

"You use him against me. You make love to me with his voice. I can smell him on my skin. His fingers touch me. I had his cock down my throat this morning. There's so much of his cum in my belly it's a miracle I'm not pregnant."

"So give me Jack."

The goa'uld was motionless and silent for a long time. Finally, he rolled out of the bed and left.

* * *

In all his explorations, Daniel had never been to this area of the ha'tak.

One wall was entirely transparent, showing a breathtaking view of the stars and planet below.

And the room itself was... well...

A garden. Green growing things everywhere. The smell of earth and damp. Surrounding large a rock pool that gurgled like the spring that fed an oasis in the desert. Stone lanterns on the floor lit paths with flickering light.

The goa'uld was watching him closely.

"I appreciate the gesture," Daniel said. "Jack's idea?"

* * *

The soil was cool under his palms. Gritty with sand. The moisture of it seeped through the knees of his light trousers. He watched it shift between his fingers as he braced for the first thrust. He felt the heat and pressure. God, he hated it rough and dry. Why bring him to this place, go to the effort, just for this? He took another deep breath of the heavy, moist air.

"Jack, please..." The whisper was so soft, it ought to have been lost in the rustle of the artificial breeze and the lapping of the water against the edges of the pool.

The goa'uld swore. Or Jack did. A hard push sent him face first into the damp earth.

Alone by the oasis, he gave his tears to the captive desert.

* * *

The goa'uld didn't touch him. Just stood by the door, wathching him in the dark. Two weeks now.

"This whole thing was a mistake," he said quietly.

Then he left.

* * *

Daniel opened the door.

It was Sam's friend, the technical translator. He groped in his mind for his real name. Torranach.

"How can I help you, Torranach?" he asked, walking back over to resume his seat in the large arm chair, where he had been enjoying some comfort reading – a tricky little piece of a saga he'd never attempted before. "Torranach. That's Celtic. Torran is thunder? Right? So your name means thunderous? Something like that?"

To Daniel's surprise the man laughed and nodded, then for some reason, blushed and looked guilty. He sat as far from Daniel as possible, at the opposite end of the couch.

"OK. What's so funny?" Daniel felt a smile twitching on his own lips at the man's reaction.

"I'm just surprised you know it's proper translation. I thought maybe you thought it meant 'Muffin'," Torranach replied, giving Daniel a sly look, though the blush still hadn't faded.

Now it was Daniel's turn to be embarrassed. He and Teal'c had taken to referring to Sam's helper as "Muffin" almost from the beginning. Sam was so smitten with him. She deserved it.

"Who told you about that?!" he demanded, immediately suspecting one of the who-knew-how-many Jaffa that must have been watching them over the monitors day and night.

"Col. O'Neill did. He insists on calling me that. My Master said Col. O'Neill was snickering over it for hours after Teal'c first said it. He refuses to call me by any other name." Torranach shrugged and smiled.

"I don't think Col. O'Neill likes me very much, actually."

Daniel just stared at him. As the silence stretched, Torranach's smile faded.

"Dr. Jackson?"

"You talk to Jack often?" Daniel finally managed to ask.

"Yes. Every day. Don't you?"

There was another long silence and Daniel considered this new piece of information. He felt a strange sense of betrayal. He spent hours and hours with the goa'uld, but he hadn't seen Jack since that one night. Daniel had assumed that the goa'uld was just keeping Jack on a tight rein.

But maybe that wasn't the case.

Maybe the goa'uld was just keeping Daniel and Jack apart.

Or keeping Daniel for himself.

This new piece of information seemed to lead places Daniel didn't want to go. Places even worse than where he was now.

"Col. O'Neill seems to think that you and Teal'c are jealous of me," Torranach continued. "He says Major Carter is SG-1's girl, and no guy has a chance of meeting both your standards and Teal'c's. He says Sam's never going to get laid again, as long as she's on this team."

The pure Jack-ness of that comment got a snort out of Daniel, despite his other thoughts.

"I thought I was SG-1's girl," he muttered to himself. Torranach laughed.

"Besides, Jack's one to talk," said Daniel. "You're lucky the worst thing he's done to you is call you Muffin. Sam's love interests usually meet him when he's fully armed. Knives, grenades, ZAT, P90 and a sidearm, and God knows what else concealed in his field uniform. If you'd met Jack under normal circumstances, you'd have been in fear of your life, not just embarrassed by an annoying nickname."

"Is that really what you thought? That I was trying to woo Maj. Carter?"

"No. Sam was driving us crazy. She's been ogling you shamelessly for weeks. I can't believe you didn't know. In fact, I _don't_ believe it. You had to have known?"

Torranach smiled to himself.

"That's what I thought," he said quietly. And to Daniel's complete surprise, the man blushed right up to the tips of his ears.

"Plus she talked about you constantly." Daniel affected a high, squeaky voice. "Torran said this, and Torran thought that, and did you know that Torran thinks... All very annoying. Teal'c started calling you Muffin just to bother her."

Daniel could not believe it. The man was simply glowing. His eyes were bright. He was clearly struggling to contain a broad, pleased grin. Talking to him for the first time, really, Daniel saw the appeal. Sweet. Self-deprecating. Apparently completely crushed on Sam. He had a certain charm.

"Well, a nickname is not necessarily an indication that Jack doesn't like you. He gives everybody names. He gave Teal'c's larval goa'uld a name. Any other reasons you feel that he doesn't like you?"

Torran's easy, if slightly flustered smile faded to something more serious. Maybe sad, even.

"Because of who I am. It's pretty clear that he despises me for it."

"For what? Being a linguist?" Daniel gave him what he hoped was an encouraging smile.

"No. For being my Master's chosen host."

Daniel blinked.

"That doesn't make any sense," Daniel said slowly. " _His Lordship_ is using Jack as a host. And with a snake in his head, Jack's gonna be around a lot longer than you are, frankly."

"He had asked me to be his next host and I had agreed. But then he began to hear about Col. O'Neill and SG-1 and he became obsessed with the idea that he wanted Col. O'Neill's knowledge and talents to use against his enemies. So as you know, in the end he passed me over in favor of your commander."

"Well, yeah. I see you're point about Jack, then."

The very thought of it made Daniel's skin crawl.

But Torranach was clearly sad. In fact, he was obviously fighting back tears. Well, the poor guy. Just a few days ago his life's hopes, dreams and aspirations had all been shattered when his goa'uld went and infested another host. Daniel supposed it was a little like being left at the alter.

And in a weird way, it was creepy, but strangely touching. Here was this jilted host, bravely standing by his goa'uld, in spite of it all. He wondered if Sam knew that about her translator. He could see Sam going for that. Sorta. Maybe.

There was another long pause. Torranach's expression was so lost and sad that finally Daniel took pity on him.

"Sorry. You never said why you were here?" Daniel reminded him.

"Oh. Well, since Maj. Carter doesn’t need my services any longer, my master suggested I should come and see if there was anything I could do to help you."

"What? Why doesn't Sam need your services any longer?" Daniel asked, immediately suspicious.

Sam and Torranach had been practically inseparable during the ship's waking hours. She was determined to get as much out of this fiasco as she could, and she had been sending data back to the SGC as fast as she could extract it and turn it into something that could be transmitted back via M.A.L.P.

Torranach looked surprised.

"No one told you?" he asked incredulously.

"No one told me what?" Daniel growled. He was on his feet and across the room in a heartbeat. He took Torranach by the front of his tunic and yanked him to his feet, practically shaking him.

"What has he done to her? Why doesn't Sam need you?" Daniel snarled.

"I don't think he did anything to her," Torrananch responded remarkably calmly. "She and Teal'c left several hours ago. My master gave them a tel'tak and sent them to the nearest gateworld."

Suddenly Daniel couldn't breathe.

* * *

The goa'uld was avoiding him.

"Where is he?" Daniel finally asked his Jaffa, who looked uncomfortable.

"I have been instructed not to tell you where he is."

"Why?" Daniel wondered what the Jaffa would do if Daniel had to hit him.

Torranach intervened.

"Maybe I can find out."

* * *

Daniel sat by the oasis pool and looked out at the stars.

They'd left him.

Hammond's orders were that they were to take Jack with them. Jack was too big a security risk to leave behind.

But they had. They had left him and Jack. Alone.

He couldn't figure out why they would do that.

At first he had been angry. But the longer he thought about it, the more he felt like he was missing something.

"Hey," came a familiar voice from behind him.

The goa'uld.

"Muffin said you were looking for us," the voice said.

Daniel blinked and slowly looked around. He was black and sleek, still, but there was something in his posture – his face and eyes – that was not the goa'uld.

"Jack?"

"Yeah," said Jack quietly, sitting down next to him on the sandy embankment.

Daniel's heart skipped a beat. He had that sinking feeling in his stomach. He shut his eyes and tried to breathe deeply and calmly. He'd spent the last nearly three weeks in bed with this man. It was completely unreasonable to have this... sort of... _first date_ feeling.

"So how are you?" he asked, conversationally.

"I've been better," said Jack. He sounded tired. And oddly reserved. _First date_ , said an annoying little voice in the back of his head.

"What's going on, Jack? Yesterday morning, I found out that Sam and Teal'c left. And I haven't seen _His Lordship_ since. Now you show up. What's up?"

"Honestly?" said Jack, looking at him sidelong. "I'm not really sure."

"How can you not be sure?!" Daniel nearly shouted.

Jack sighed. "The goa'uld and I don't always _share_. We seem to be able to keep things from each other, if we try hard enough. Anyway, he's a lot better at it than I am. He's been up to something for days, but I'm not sure what."

"But aren't you there? The whole time? I mean, you might not be able to tell what he's thinking, but didn't you see whatever happened?"

"Nope."

A panicky feeling was forming in the pit of Daniel's stomach. The possible ramifications of this were so frightening.

"Nope?" he asked weakly.

"Nope. He seems to be able to shut me off. You ever do that sensory deprivation thing? Those tanks? I did that once. It's a little bit like that. No sounds. Darkness. But not exactly like that. I have been able to taste. And smell. And feel. Like walking through a pitch black, quiet room."

He stopped a long moment while Daniel tried to get his breathing back under control.

"Or making love with your eyes closed."

Daniel swallowed hard. If Jack didn't know what had been going on all this time, Daniel wasn’t ready to have this conversation.

Business. The mission and business.

"So has he been able to get anything from you? To use in his..." Daniel gestured vaguely toward the view of the stars above them.

"Sorta. I haven't actively cooperated with him on anything. But I seem to _know_ lots of... I dunno... stuff... about him. His history. From his behavior, I think he knows a lot of the same type of stuff about me. He never shuts me out when he's planning, so I think picks up more from my reactions to what he says and does and thinks."

"I've gotten better at keeping those kinds of thoughts private, but like I said, he's a lot better at this than I am."

"So, you don't know why Teal'c and Sam left?"

"Nope."

In a funny way, Daniel wanted to smile. It was good to have Jack back, no matter how frustrating that experience could be.

"Great. Well, I understand from Muffin that _His Lordship_ has been letting you out to play with him."

Jack snorted.

"Yes, it's all very Tokra. They love me up on the pel'tak, let me tell you."

Daniel smiled to himself.

"I bet."

"How are you?"

"What?" Daniel asked.

"I want to know how you are," Jack repeated.

"Same as I've been since I got here," Daniel said, carefully uninformative. The sinking feeling was back.

"Yeah, well. Here's the thing. The deal seems to be that there are certain things I don't get to know. Or see. Or hear. Or anything. Until I cooperate. The whole team – you, Teal'c, Sam. Completely off limits."

"Jack..." Daniel couldn't think of what to say.

"I can put two and two together, Daniel," Jack said.

"Making love in the dark, Daniel," Jack pressed on. "It has been you, hasn't it? Every night. Every day."

"I know how you taste."

Daniel's heart was racing. He sat with his chin resting on his drawn up knees, staring out into the dark water of the pool.

"Daniel?"

"I don't know what to say." Daniel began to get to his feet.

And to his surprise, found himself flat on his back in the sand when Jack swept his knees and pounced.

Except not Jack. Eyes glowed over him like two novas against the background of stars.

"Why don't you say that you want him?" the goa'uld growled. "Why don't you tell him that when you come, you call his name? Even when I was ready to punish you again, you didn't beg _me_ to stop. You begged _him_ to stop me."

Daniel's heart was racing. He'd never seen the goa'uld this angry. Crouched over him, snarling. Daniel was intensely aware of the ribbon device snaking around Jack's arm. He knew first-hand what those could do.

"Tell him you don't want _me_ , but you do want _him_."

Then the scowl turned to panicky confusion and Jack leapt back off him again.

"Whoa!" He yelped, stumbling to his feet and trying to get his bearings.

Daniel stayed where he was. Just shut his eyes and listened to Jack mutter to himself, barely audible. Something was going on inside his head. Daniel could guess.

"Did he decide to _share_ after all?" Daniel asked.

"Daniel?"

The sound of that voice was so frightened and small, that Daniel was scrambling over the damp sandy soil towards his friend before he even thought about it.

But Jack kept his distance, backing away hastily, and Daniel didn't follow him.

"What have I been doing to you?!" Jack sounded horrified.

Daniel knelt helplessly in the sand as Jack moved away from him, as if Daniel were some sort of wild animal Jack didn't want to frighten.

"Jack, I looked into Sha're's eyes while Amonet tried to burn my brain out of my skull. I, of all people, know how to tell the difference between a goa'uld and a host."

Jack shook his head.

"No. There's a difference, Daniel. Sha're didn't want you to die. She didn't want to kill you. But the fucking goddamned snake in my head _knows_ what I want, doesn't he?"

Their eyes met across the sand, and Daniel saw all his own feelings reflected on Jack's face - anger, frustration, humiliation, fear.

What was Daniel supposed to say?

He knew what he should say, of course. But he couldn't look Jack in the eye when he said it. He sat back on his heels and his eyes fell to the dark water and the reflected stars.

And he couldn't make himself say anything.

The silence was filled with the lapping of the ringlets in the pond and the rustle of the undergrowth.

Daniel finally looked up into the glowing eyes of the goa'uld.

He was smiling Jack's hard, cynical smile.

Then a Jaffa stepped out of the greenery, startling them both.

"Master, they're asking for you," he said.

The goa'uld nodded curtly and gestured to Daniel.

"I want him nearby, in case we need him," the goa'uld ordered.

* * *

"Before we can move forward, you need to send Dr. Jackson back through this Stargate," Hammond demanded.

"That point is not negotiable," the goa'uld replied calmly. "The release of Major Carter and the shol'vah was my gesture of good faith. Dr. Jackson stays with me until I'm certain that you will complete your part of the agreement."

"I want to see him before I agree to any further cooperation with you," Hammond stated. He didn't sound surprised, but he did sound angry.

The goa'uld nodded to a Jaffa, who immediately left the room.

"Have the Tokra considered my proposal?"

"Yes, they have agreed. The arrangements are under way. We are all relieved and grateful that you would go to this effort. We are very interested in trying to ensure that this goes smoothly."

The goa'uld nodded.

"I'd like to extend my apologies to the Tauri, and SG-1 in particular, for my rash actions. Perhaps when the procedure is complete we will have an opportunity to discuss a relationship more acceptable to you."

They were interrupted by Daniel's entry.

"Dr. Jackson!" General Hammond said warmly. "It's good to see you! How are you?"

"Worried," Daniel replied. "Are Teal'c and Maj. Carter there with you, sir?"

"Yes, they are," Hammond paused, then continued in a more serious tone.

"Maj. Carter has informed of the conditions of your captivity, Dr. Jackson. I am inclined to make a formal protest on your behalf."

Daniel felt himself go pale.

"No," he replied, shocked at how calm he sounded. "I don't think that's necessary, sir. The situation has changed since Maj. Carter left."

A formal protest would mean that the sordid details of the last few weeks would become a matter of record. Assuming they ever de-snaked him, it could put an end to Jack's career, and very possibly finish Daniel's own participation in the Stargate program. In the best case, he doubted if they would ever be able to work together again. He knew the fraternization rules and what they were for. If what had happened between him and Jack on this mission became common knowledge, Daniel was sure the general would be forced to split the team.

"Very well, Dr. Jackson. However, I would like to remind you, sir, that Dr. Jackson is your prisoner, and I expect him to be accorded the rights and protections that would be offered to any prisoner of war."

The goa'uld smiled Jack's nastiest smile.

"General Hammond. You know so little about the customs of the goa'uld. Dr. Jackson has been accorded courtesies and privileges that would never be expected by a Jaffa captured by the enemy. They would expect to die slowly, after their symbiotes were ripped out and slaughtered before their eyes. In the context, I think you can see that my treatment of Dr. Jackson has been exemplary."

There was silence in the room.

"I'm ready to discuss the finer points of our plans," the goa'uld finally said to the M.A.L.P. His Jaffa escort ushered Daniel out of the room.

* * *

Daniel had fallen asleep on the couch, the tablet resting on his chest. He was awakened by the door opening.

"Hey."

Daniel blinked. Jack?

"Jack, what's going on?" he asked groggily.

"I have no idea, but Sam sent us Chinese again," Jack said, dumping the bags on the table.

"Nice," Daniel replied, sitting up and scrubbing at his tired eyes. He hadn't been sleeping well.

"Surely he's told you why you get to talk to me twice in one day?" Daniel insisted.

Jack looked up from dishing out food onto the plates already set at the table.

"Oh. That. Do you like this stuff with the shrimp and lobster?" He scooped pork fried rice onto Daniel's plate.

"Yes. That. Jack?" He caught Jack's wrist and took the box of Double Happiness away, spearing a large piece of lobster with a chopstick.

Jack looked guilty.

"As best I can tell, snakeboy has made some sort of agreement with Gen. Hammond. We're leaving the ha'tak in the morning for a meeting down on the planet down there, and you are apparently staying here to be sure that the General holds up his end of the bargain, whatever that might be."

The queasy feeling was back. Suddenly the rich smell of the seafood was more than Daniel could face. He set the little box down carefully and walked back over to flop onto the couch.

"You don't eat anymore," Jack said. "It really bugs snakeboy," he gestured toward his own head with the chopsticks. "You stopped as soon as we got here."

"Nerves. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop," Daniel replied, rubbing his eyes again. "Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't." Daniel shrugged.

Jack set down the Szechwan string beans and licked his fingers as he walked across the room. He stood over Daniel, looking down at him worriedly. Finally, he sighed and settled on the edge of the sofa. Daniel shifted over to make room for him.

"Daniel," he began.

"Don't start, Jack," Daniel said quietly.

"Alright," Jack said. He stared down at his hands. Smirked at the mu gu gai pan smudged on the stone of the ribbon device. He licked it off. He got up again and wandered back over to the table for his plate and brought it back.

"But if I'm not supposed to start, we have to do something. Here," he picked up a piece of baby corn and offered it to Daniel on the end of his chopsticks.

Daniel turned his head away. The garlic smell made his stomach turn.

"Come on," Jack insisted, "if you eat, you'll feel better."

Daniel gave him a sidelong look, then reluctantly let himself be fed the bite of vegetable.

Jack grinned and scooped up a bite of fried rice for himself.

Daniel moved to get up from the sofa, but Jack stopped him with a chopstick full of lo mein.

"I know it's your favorite," he said, sounding slightly menacing to Daniel, who was still not convinced that eating was a good idea.

Daniel opened his mouth to protest that he could feed himself, if Jack would just let him go get his plate, and Jack stuffed the noodles in.

Daniel glared and chewed.

"It's more fun this way," Jack assured him with a grin.

"Fine," Daniel said grudgingly, and sat back on the couch. But then Jack sprung up. Then turned and pointed at him.

"Stay," he ordered.

Jack went back to the bags and pulled out a couple of sweating bottles of Tsingtao. With another snicker to himself, he popped the lids with the thumb guard of the ribbon device, and snagged Daniel's plate on the way back. He handed Daniel a bottle and peered at the hand device.

"I wonder if I can break this thing?"

Daniel just chuckled and took a swallow of the beer.

So Jack fed him and they drank Sam's Tsingtao, and Daniel felt better. Better than he had in days, in fact.

Now they were sitting with two fresh bottles, Daniel's feet in Jack's lap, Daniel just the other side of drunk, and Jack contemplating the ribbon device.

"You know what sucks about having a snake in your head?" Jack asked suddenly.

"I can imagine a lot of things that would suck about it," Daniel replied. "You have something specific in mind?"

"I'm not even buzzed," Jack complained.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think as soon as I try to stand up we're going to find out that I'm drunk enough for both of us."

Jack smirked.

"Yeah. I was noticing that. Anyway, how am I supposed to make a drunken pass at you if I can't get drunk?"

Daniel blinked at him.

"You were starting on the apology and guilt thing earlier. What changed your mind?" Daniel asked, shifting restlessly.

"You told me not to start…" Jack tried for his most brazen, shameless grin, but Daniel, even drunk as he was, could tell that Jack was working at this. Trying to find new footing. Trying to find a way to be friends again now that they were something else.

"Alright. So I guess the responsibility for making a drunken pass falls to me, then," Daniel said.

Daniel sat up and carefully set his bottle on the floor. The room was a little wobbly. Not too bad. Then he carefully and deliberately crawled into Jack's lap.

"You are drunk enough for both of us," Jack laughed. Daniel scowled down at him as he took off his glasses and laid them on the table.

"I'm not that drunk," he said, then he leaned down and kissed him. A long, lush, sloppy kiss. Jack melted into it. Daniel liked this position. It gave him leverage, Jack was at his mercy, and with his knees splayed wide, it put certain parts of his anatomy in a very interesting position relative to certain parts of Jack's anatomy. Daniel was already wishing there were fewer clothes in the way.

His fingers went to the laces of Jack's vest, and with practiced efficiency began working them loose. Jack laughed.

"Daniel!" he protested, and caught Daniel's wrists.

"What?"

"I'm not taking advantage of you while you're this drunk."

"I'm not…"

"Yes. You are. Besides, this is our first date. Shouldn't we be doing first date type stuff? Stay up all night eating Chinese food and watching movies. Maybe make out on the couch. A little groping. I don't see you being the kind of girl who puts out on the first date."

Jack was teasing him gently, but his smile was sweet.

"The problem with that argument," Daniel said, trying to get his arms free to continue his work on the laces, "Is that this is not our first date, and I actually _did_ put out, as I hope you recall."

"Nah. That was the snake, pimping you out…"

Daniel laughed at that.

He tried for a deep, resonant baritone, reaching as low as he could go.

"Hey, flyboy, check out this nice little piece of archaeologist ass! Twenty-three languages, and those are just the ones he can list on his Tauri resume. Imagine what he can do with that tongue." Daniel snickered at his own joke.

"Alright, maybe I am drunk," he conceded. He quit fighting Jack's hold on his arms and kissed him again.

After long minutes, Jack let him go. One hand wandered up to gently touch Daniel's cheek, slipping back to trace his ear and wind its way into his hair. The other came to rest on Daniel's hip. Daniel groaned as warm fingers wndered under the hem of his shirt and Jack's palm pressed lightly into his lower back.

Under the circumstances, Daniel felt it was unreasonable to expect him to have any self-control whatsoever. His hands found their way back to Jack's clothes almost of their own accord.

"Daniel!"

"I don't feel like this is our first date, Jack," Daniel protested, as Jack caught his hands again. "I feel like you're shipping out tomorrow and you're not coming back."

"Come on, Daniel. That's why the snake's leaving you here. You're the insurance policy. Gen. Hammond's not going to take me out while they've got you as a hostage."

Daniel thought about that statement for a minute or two. Prevented from undoing the vest, Daniel leaned forward to idly explore Jack's ear with his tongue. He found that breathing gently over the damp shell sent shudders all through Jack's body, pinned under him. When he dipped his tongue into Jack's ear canal, tasting bitter wax, Jack groaned and shoved him off, laughing breathlessly.

"I'm not so sure about that, Jack," Daniel continued, somewhat out of breath himself. "There have always been priorities more important than the lives of any one of us. It's possible that you are a big enough security risk that they'd give me up, if it meant they could neutralize you."

Jack still had him by the wrists. Daniel slid back off his lap and got to his feet, tugging Jack up after him.

"But that's not what worries me," he continued, drawing Jack towards the door to his bedroom. "I'm worried that when you go, you'll be gone for good." He thought this through and realized he really was much more drunk than he thought. He was making no sense at all.

Jack was resisting been led to bed. He brought Daniel up short and wrapped his arms around him.

"That doesn't seem very likely," Jack said. "You know these snakes. They like their big ships. We'll be back." Jack's fingers were tangling in Daniel's hair again. Jack tugged his head back for another long, sweet kiss.

"What if…" Daniel finally managed, "What if the snake comes back, but you don't."

Jack paused where he was nuzzling back behind Daniel's ear. He straightened up slowly and looked hard at Daniel.

"The other night, the goa'uld told me this was all a mistake. I think he's given up on trying to use you as a host." Jack looked like he was considering this.

"Come to bed, Jack," Daniel said, in what he realized was an echo of their first night together. "You're not coming back from this trip tomorrow. Torranach is. If I ever see you again, it'll probably be back at the SGC, and everything will be different then."

This time, Jack allowed himself to be pulled through the doors separating Daniel's sleeping area from the rest of his quarters.

Crossing the threshold took them back to that first night again. Daniel saw the same reluctance on Jack's face. Knowing what would happen, Daniel made another attempt at untying the vest. But when Jack tried to stop him this time, Daniel set his feet, twisted his hips, and pulled hard.

With a yelp, Jack lost his balance, and Daniel gave him a push that landed Jack squarely on the bed. Daniel chortled triumphantly and followed him, but Jack was quick. He caught Daniel almost mid-leap, and somehow, Daniel found himself on his back looking up at Jack again. Only this time, it stayed Jack.

"I already told you, I'm not taking advantage of you while you're drunk," Jack insisted.

Daniel stared up at him in disbelief.

"How can you not understand what is happening here, Jack?" Daniel demanded. "The snake was right about me. I don't want him. But I do want you. And he's about to take you away from me. I want something good to come out of this before you go, Jack."

Jack took a deep breath.

"If he's really going down to the planet tomorrow to get free of me and move to a new host," Jack said quietly, "It doesn't really make any sense for him to keep you here, does it?"

"He's planning to hold on to you, isn't he? He's not going to ever let you leave?"

"Maybe," Daniel agreed, "That's the thought that occurred to me."

"We won't leave you here, Daniel."

"Why don't you just quit being so noble and principled and fuck me into next week?"

"Maybe we can come to a compromise," Jack finally said. He was reaching across the bed to the little doors in the headboard again. A different door this time. One that Daniel hadn't found before.

Jack pulled out two loops.

"Jack…"

"Daniel…"

One loop over his right wrist, and then caught in a clasp on the headboard.

Second loop over his left wrist, and wound through another clasp.

"The compromise requires that you behave," Jack admonished him.

"Alright," Daniel agreed.

* * *

Jack had a certain genius for torture, Daniel thought.

Kissing had led to groping. Groping had led to more thorough explorations, and now Daniel lay helpless and half naked, and Jack was propped up on an elbow next to him, apparently trying to decide what to do next.

"You're so good at this," Jack said, his voice husky. Daniel held out some hope that this was as difficult for Jack as it was for him, and that Jack would eventually crack under the strain. Couldn't hurt to be hopeful.

"At what? Being tied up, squirming and at your mercy?" he asked.

"That, too."

Then Jack dipped his head, and ran a tentative, feathery light tongue along the side of Daniel's cock.

* * *

"Please," he begged. Jack looked up at him, and for a man fully dressed and in total control, he looked completely debauched. Flushed, lips swollen and wet, eyes dark and wild, breathless.

"I have to have something hard inside me, right now. You know you want to, Jack."

Jack crawled up his body and kissed him. Daniel could taste salt and his own flavor on Jack's mouth.

But the kiss made the craving to be penetrated worse, not better.

"Jack, please. Please…" Daniel was begging. He arched his back and neck to see what Jack was doing and almost cried in relief to see him open the little door that hid the jar of balm.

"I'm going to let your arms loose, now. Daniel. Are you paying attention? I'm going to untie you, but you have to do exactly what I say."

His arms were free.

Jack lifted him by one knee.

"Help me, Daniel," he said.

Daniel caught his own calves with his forearms, and waited.

The touch of cool slick fingers made him sob. The press of first one, then two digits was excruciating. Jack seemed to know exactly where to rub. Maybe the goa'uld was helping him. But Jack had a patience for drawing it out that the goa'uld had never shown. In - carefully and as deep as he could reach. Out - in long pulls that seemed to last an eternity, every one drawing a whimper from his lover. In and out over and over until Daniel couldn't breathe.

Then another warm-slick hand wrapped around Daniel's cock and pumped him 'til he came in a splatter over his own belly.

Daniel fell asleep with Jack wrapped around him.

* * *

Daniel knew when they got up and left him. He made himself lie still and pretend to be asleep.

There were lips on his bare shoulder, then they left.

* * *

"Dr. Jackson?"

Daniel woke with a start. Nobody but the goa'uld, or Jack, or whoever, had ever ventured into his bedroom to wake him since he'd been here.

"Muffin?" he asked blearily, reaching for his glasses, and cursing when he realized they were out in the other room.

Torranach shoved his pants into his hands.

"Get dressed. Hurry."

"OK. Is there something I should know?" Daniel asked, as he went into emergency mode. Pants, socks, boots – he cast around for his over shirt.

"Wait." Torranach was looking at the front of Daniel's t-shirt, which showed clear evidence of what he and Jack had been doing last night. Daniel looked down and wrinkled his nose.

"Here," said Torranach, and handed him a clean shirt. It looked like SGC issue. Daniel realized it must be Jack's. He stripped off his own t-shirt and put it on.

"Now, this," said Torranach. He glanced back toward the other room. He was offering Daniel a large tablet.

"I'm not taking that," Daniel said flatly.

"Dr. Jackson, my master is about to do something very stupid that I know he will regret until his dying day. I'm here to try to help you and salvage this disaster. Take it."

"Tell me what's going on," Daniel insisted.

"Take the tablet, or it won't have time to take effect."

Reluctantly, Daniel put the pill on his tongue and washed it down with warm beer form a half-empty bottle by the bed.

Torranach immediately took him by the forearm. He applied a resin to the inside of Daniel's bicep, and then pressed a long, narrow, tubular instrument into the glue. The object adhered to Daniel's skin. When Daniel lowered his arm, it felt awkward, but the device remained in place and was fairly well concealed. Torranach handed him his over shirt. With it on, no one would see the tube at all.

"What is that," Daniel asked, as he slipped his shirt on.

"It's the counteragent to the drug you just took."

"I just took a drug that requires a counter agent?" Daniel couldn't keep a note of panic out of his voice.

"You just took a very powerful narcotic in a time-release capsule. In ten minutes you will start to get sleepy and five minutes after that, you'll be comatose. Your respiration and heart rate will be nearly undetectable."

Daniel heard the outer doors of his suite open. Through the doors to the other room he could see that the Jaffa entering were not his usual bodyguard.

Torranach grabbed him and drew him close.

"My apologies, Dr. Jackson," he whispered.

Then he kissed him.

Torranach's fingers slipped through his hair, then Daniel felt a sharp pain behind his ear.

"That's a locator beacon," Torranach whispered. The Jaffa had stopped outside the door and were waiting, though Daniel couldn't imagine for what. "The Jaffa won't see it. Don't interfere with it."

Then Torranach released him and stepped back. He nodded to the leader of the Jaffa contingent, who reached out to take Daniel by the arm. Daniel shrugged him off with an imperious glare.

"Lead the way," he said, as haughtily and derisively as he could manage through his increasing panic.

They didn't go far. Which made perfect sense, once Daniel saw their destination. They stopped about a dozen yards down the corridor from his rooms. The Jaffa touched a switch on the wall, and a door slid back.

Behind the door, Daniel saw a row of coffin-like escape pods. He recognized them immediately. He'd been inside escape pods like this twice.

One of them was marked with the Tauri glyph. Daniel thought that couldn't mean anything good.

The Jaffa pointed to the marked pod.

In the confined darkness, Daniel felt the pod fall away from the ship. He was beginning to feel the effects of Torranach's drug. He tried to relax into the comfortable sleepy feeling and not think to much about what was going to happen next.

* * *

Sam stood at General Hammond's elbow as the goa'uld's party approached from the ship. At first, she kept expecting more people to appear thorough the ship's open hatch, but as they crossed the grass of the large meadow, she realized it was just the goa'uld and Torran.

With a shock, she realized who Torran must be. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Teal'c raise an eyebrow.

"Muffin is his chosen host," Teal'c murmured to her.

"Who?" Muttered General Hammond back. But it was too late to answer him, as the goa'uld finally stopped before them.

Seeing Jack and knowing it was not Jack was still one of the eeriest experiences Sam could remember. Her father was still her father, with Salmac inside him. This goa'uld was the snake in Jack's body, with Jack tucked somewhere deep inside his head. She couldn't wait for this whole horrible debacle to be over.

The goa'uld bowed slightly to the general. He offered a small square box.

"I have brought you a gift, as a souvenir of this occasion," said the goa'uld.

"Thank you," General Hammond accepted the box, which he handed to the Marine standing by. "And I want to thank you again for agreeing to this procedure. I take it that this is your new host?" Hammond asked, indicating Torranach.

Torranach gave him that disarming smile that made Sam's heart skip two beats.

"My name is Torranach," he said, with a deeper bow than his master had offered. "I am very pleased to be able to make your acquaintance, General. Samantha and Teal'c have said so much about you."

The general smiled thinly.

"Why don't we all go in?" he suggested. "The Tokra are ready for us, and I don't see any reason to delay this any longer than we have to. It's my understanding that this planet isn't in the best of neighborhoods."

Torranach nodded his agreement.

"We are in a disputed border territory here. Three system lords are fighting to control it. It was a poor choice for a meeting place, but we bowed to the will of the Tokra in this regard."

Sam stared at him. This was not the quiet, deferential scholar who had been helping her these past few weeks. This Torranach had the presence of command. Her eyes flicked to the goa'uld. He looked pleased and calm.

"Well, then, if you will come with me, the Tokra are waiting," said the general. She was turning to fall in behind them, when Torran caught her arm.

He smiled warmly down at her, as the others began the short walk to the rings that would take them down into the Tokra tunnels.

"I have brought a gift, too," he said quietly.

It was a box, very similar to the one the goa'uld had given Gen. Hammond.

"You didn't need to do that," she said, just as quietly, though the rest of the group had already moved well beyond earshot.

"Yes. I did. It's a viewing globe. I want you to promise me that you will watch it as soon as you can."

There was an urgency in his voice that seemed out of place in the circumstances.

"OK," she agreed, a little shakily. "I'll watch it tonight," she promised.

"No!" he said, stepping closer and touching her hair gently. She really shouldn't allow this. Not standing here in full dress uniform for the world to see. He leaned in and whispered in her ear. "Daniel needs you to see this immediately. Find a way to watch it within the hour. Sooner if you possibly can."

He left her standing there, holding the device, and hurried to catch up with the rest of the party.

* * *

"Teal'c!" she hissed.

When he turned, she gestured frantically. He nodded to the Tokra on his left and bowed his way out of the room.

"What is it, Maj. Carter?" he asked quietly.

"The snake spaced Daniel," she said breathlessly.

Teal'c's brow furrowed, as it did when he was struggling with a new phrase. Sam shook her head.

"He's dumped Daniel out into space in an escape pod with no oxygen supply," she explained hurriedly. "Torran thinks we have about three hours to find the pod. We need a ship and we need it now."

Teal'c took a deep breath.

"Maj. Carter, if what Torranach told you is true, then DanielJackson is already dead. Without an oxygen supply, a person inside an escape pod has approximately half an hour of breathable atmosphere. Perhaps less."

Sam shook her head again.

"No! Torran gave him something – some kind of drug - to make him sleep. If we hurry, we'll be just in time."

"We need the snake's ship," she said.

A Tokra was passing them in the hall. Teal'c reached out and took him firmly by the arm. He turned to look at them with wide, surprised eyes. Teal'c leaned down and whispered to him.

"Tell General Hammond that the goa'uld currently being moved between hosts must not be allowed to leave this place until Maj. Carter or I contact him. It is a matter of great urgency, but the goa'uld must not know anything is amiss."

The Tokra looked confused, but nodded. Sam was already running down the tunnel as fast as her dress blues would allow. Teal'c followed her with no further explanation.

* * *

"Three hours beginning when?" Teal'c asked, as the planet fell away behind him.

"I don’t know," Sam replied, her voice tight. "Torran's message isn't incredibly helpful. He obviously didn't have much time." She was trying to figure out how to adjust the instrument Torran had stated would pick up Daniel's beacon.

"There!" she exclaimed. The display lit up with a flashing marker.

"Maj. Carter," Teal'c replied. She looked up to see Teal'c watching the ship's targeting computer.

There were three ships showing on the display. The goa'uld's ha'tak, as expected. Another, much smaller ship, probably a tel'tak, like their own.

And a second ha'tak.

"It seems the Tokra should have heeded the goa'uld's warning about using this planet as a meeting place," Teal'c commented.

"Oh. Oh, we do not need this right now," Sam muttered. She was comparing the two displays – the one showing Daniel's beacon, and the targeting display.

"Teal'c, that other tel'tak. It's right on top of Daniel."

Teal'c nodded his agreement.

The communications board chirped.

"Who would be hailing us?!" Sam asked.

"We are in _His Lordship's_ personal tel'tak," Teal'c reminded her. "They are hailing us on a protected channel."

The voice came from the speakers.

"Maj. Carter? Teal'c?"

They looked at each other. Teal'c touched a control on the communications panel.

"This is Teal'c. Who are you?"

The voice sounded relieved.

"Teal'c. It is I, Seejay. We have found Dr. Jackson. He seems to be unharmed, but he is unconscious. Torranach told me that Maj. Carter would know what to do."

"Who the _hell_ is this Seejay?" Sam demanded.

Teal'c gave her his most annoyed raised eyebrow.

"He is the Jaffa that was the head of DanielJackson's security contingent," replied Teal'c, as if this were common knowledge.

"Oh," Sam said. "OK. Seejay, Torran said he would hide a device in the escape pod for administering a stimulant that should revive him. But he wasn't sure how he was going to do it."

"We will search," replied Seejay.

"Teal'c, what about that other ha'tak?" Sam said. "We need to warn General Hammond."

"Seejay," Teal'c said. "Do not search. Do you have ring transport?"

"Of course," came the quick reply.

"Good. Place the pod in the rings and send DanielJackson to us. Then you must return to your ha'tak before the battle begins."

Understanding Teal's intention, Sam leapt up and headed back to the cargo area.

"The rings are clear," she called to Teal'c.

"We cannot return," said Seejay. "Torranach will be His Lordship's new host, and we came here on Torranach's instructions. Soon, our master will know of our betrayal. Those of us who are aboard this vessel are leaving as soon as we deliver Dr. Jackson to you."

The familiar sound of the rings activating filled the small ship.

"We've got him, Teal'c!" she shouted. "Get us back down there!"

"Seejay, you have our thanks."

"We would like more than your thanks," said Seejay pointedly. "Please tell Master Bratac that we are interested in joining his cause. When the danger has passed, we will return to this planet. Tell Master Bratac that we will be waiting here by the chappa'ai fourteen days from today."

* * *

Sam couldn't figure out how to get the pod to open completely. In irritation, she reached through the open top portion and took Daniel under the arms, intending to pull him out, then climb in herself to search for the medical device Torran had described in his message. Gripping him under the armpits, she immediately felt the strange object attached to Daniel's upper arm.

"Teal'c, can you come help me get him out of this thing?"

* * *

Torranach awakened from the procedure, and to his surprise did not feel his master's mind in touch with his. He lay still. He had not expected to awaken in control of his own body, but so much the better. He definitely felt different. His throat was sore, but already healing. He didn't feel any other ill effects. He cracked an eyelid. Two Tokra watched over him.

He wondered if his message had reached Melnar in time. The rival system lord would race to this planet as soon as he received it, Torranach was certain. What Torranach didn’t know was exactly where Melnar was. Timing was going to be everything. Timing and luck.

But he seemed to have luck today. Torranach jumped up and ran as soon as the first ha'tak strike shook the tunnels. The two Tokra were so startled, they barely had time to shout after him. He pelted down the corridors, ringed up to the surface, and had dialed out before anyone followed him. He leapt through the Stargate, back to the ha'tak.

* * *

General George Hammond had been looking for a nice, quiet, Stateside posting prior to retirement. He wanted to spend time with his family; play with his granddaughters; enjoy the fruits of a long and successful career.

Instead, here he was, on the front line, sending his men and women into the unknown, and bringing them back, as often as not, frightened, injured, maimed, contaminated, or dead. Occasionally snaked.

And today he had three key assets that had not come home at all. The intel from the Tokra was a mixed bag, as usual. Their report of Teal'c and Major Carter's movements before the ha'tak attacked were encouraging, but… He stared at the little viewing globe on his desk, with Torranach's hurried, near panicked message to Major Carter. His gut twisted coldly around the idea that the first news he might have to give Jack, restored to himself again, was that the snake had murdered Daniel.

Then Hammond remembered his own gift. A viewing globe handed to Hammond by the snake as a gift in memory of the occasion. The knot in his gut tightened.

Not a day went by that General Hammond didn't think he was too old for this. He went down to the artifacts room to find the view globe himself.

* * *

It was a recording, several hours long. Hammond had the impression that it was the snake's last day in Jack's head. It began with Jack and Daniel talking in a garden, and just went on. Hammond understood right away the snake's vindictive motivations in giving these personal moments to an outsider. But as much as he wanted to set the thing aside and not look, with three of his most valued personnel missing, he couldn't risk that the snake had buried some key message deep amidst images of love and lust recorded there.

So he saw Jack confess to Daniel by the pool. He watched Daniel seduce Jack over Tsingtao. He turned his head from touching and lovemaking, but had to listen, or what was the point, and even at his age with his experience he found himself blushing so hot that he had to stop, and step away, and let his breathing and heart rate settle before he came back again, to watch the snake in Jack's body order Daniel's execution.

When it was done, he sat back and rubbed his hands over his eyes. Nothing to see but lovers facing the end. He gave a long shaky sigh. Well, he didn't get to be a general by flinching.

* * *

It was a poorly kept secret around the infirmary that General George Hammond worried.

A lot.

Dr. Frasier had standing orders that he was to be informed immediately of changes in her patients' conditions. So it wasn't at all unusual for him to be "coincidentally" in the infirmary at key moments.

Today, it was, as ususal, complete coincidence that he was having a much needed discussion with his doctor about improvements to the mountain's communicable disease protocols about an hour after she took the sedative out of Col. Jack O'Neill's IV drip. Pure coincidence.

* * *

Jack opened his eyes. It was like the ending of so many bad dreams – the dingy, dim light of the infirmary, the unpleasantly familiar feeling of tubes attached by needles and friction. Which was how he knew it hadn't been a dream.

"Daniel's dead."

* * *

The sound of his voice set off the usual quiet scurry around the room and brought the general and Dr. Frasier to his bedside.

"We don't know that for a fact, Colonel," General Hammond replied.

"He's dead, General. I gave the order to his First Prime myself. They shoved him out into space with no air. Daniel's dead."

Hammond just shook his head.

"We know all about that. But we think Torranach may have engineered a rescue. He seems to have delivered a message to Major Carter. We think she and Teal'c got away in time to help."

"What do you mean, 'We think?'" Jack asked.

"I assume you are aware that the planet the Tokra chose was in a disputed region of space? We were attacked by another ha'tak just as the procedure moving the goa'uld from your body to Torranach's was completed. We evacuated by Stargate, but Teal'c and Major Carter didn't come through. One Tokra said that he had seen them ring up to the surface just before the attack began. Another Tokra reports she saw the ship that brought you to the surface leave just before the attack. It all adds up to Major Carter and Teal'c taking the tel'tak. It's the only thing that makes any sense."

"How long have they been gone?" Jack asked.

"Almost two days now."

Jack just nodded. Hammond realized how empty it sounded. The rescue mission, if successful, would have been a lightening strike. In the context two days sounded like an eternity.

"We have been working with Torranach trying to locate them."

Jack's expression went from calm, solemn resignation to pure fury. His whole body tensed and he started pulling at tubes. The general and Dr. Frasier pounced on him at the same time.

"Colonel, they can come out now, but remember how awful it was the last time you pulled them out yourself," Frazier shouted, as Jack yelled, "What the hell are you thinking? You trust him?!"

After his recent ordeal, Jack didn't have a lot of fight in him. He finally collapsed back panting into the pillows, and Dr. Frasier began the process of unhooking various tubes herself.

"No, we don't trust him," Hammond said, as if the outburst had never occurred. "But he's the only source of information we have. He says that there is a lot of activity in that solar system right now. He thinks they are probably hiding, waiting for things to die down before attempting to land and use the Gate. Under the circumstances, I'm not canceling their codes. I think they're going to come home to us in a few days, and Torranach believes they're going to bring Dr. Jackson with them."

* * *

Jack stood in the door of the office, looking tired. Hammond knew that look. Defeat. He'd seen it before on Jack, and he hated it.

"Good to see you on your feet again, Colonel. Come in."

Jack stepped into the room, and shut the door, but didn't sit. He stood awkwardly, eyes wandering the room. The general waited. Jack finally looked him in the eye.

"Did you watch it?" His voice was hoarse. Probably from the removal of the goa'uld through his throat.

Hammond chose not to notice that Jack's eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot.

"Yes, I did. When Major Carter and Teal'c didn't come back with us, I was worried that the thing would have a message – something important I needed to know about what was happening out there…" Hammond kept the statement matter-of-fact. _No flinching._

Jack nodded and took an envelope from the inside pocket of his jacket and laid it on the table.

Hammond sighed heavily.

"Jack, I'm not accepting that."

"I know what I would do if I were you, and under any circumstances I can imagine, I'd rather resign than stay."

"What do you think I'm going to do? If it's court martial you're worried about, Colonel, I've never much cared about what two consenting adults in love do with their private lives. The SGC needs you."

"Here's what I think," anger now, and bitterness. "I think if Daniel's alive, SG-1 gets split. And if Daniel's dead, I don't think I can look at the inside of this mountain again. I have to go."

"Colonel, you're not thinking clearly and I'm not accepting this," Hammond prodded the envelope with one finger. "You are an officer on active duty until I say otherwise. I haven't made any decisions regarding you or your team, and I would appreciate you giving me an opportunity to make up my mind before you jump to conclusions."

Jack shook his head, the anger washed away.

"We both know what was on that thing. No CO in his right mind would let me and Daniel out into the field together again."

The colonel looked the general in the eye, and the general refused to look away. But he couldn't bring himself to offer his colonel any reassurances, either. Hammond had already come to the same conclusion himself. He respected Jack too much to tell him outright lies.

It was Jack who finally looked away. When he spoke again his voice was quiet and flat. Defeated again.

"If it's all the same to you, sir, I'd like that thing the snake gave you – the globe thing – I'd like it back."

Hammond hadn't gotten to be a general by blushing in front of his field officers, either.

"I'm not giving you that thing so you can watch yourself execute Daniel over and over. I'll give it to him when he comes back."

They were eye to eye again across the desk.

"You're dismissed, Colonel. I expect you back on this base tomorrow at 0800."

Jack snapped to attention and saluted smartly, then turned on his heel and left. The general had never figured out exactly how Jack put so much insolence into those routine gestures of respect.

Hammond let his head fall back against the smooth, warm leather of the chair. He didn’t get to be a general by flinching. But he was too old for this.

* * *

Two days, and Jack hadn't slept. Dr. Frasier reported it wasn't entirely his fault, as his body was adjusting to the removal of the goa'uld's control over his various systems. He prowled the Mountain, appearing for every off world activation of the Gate, even the scheduled ones.

He was driving Hammond completely out of his mind.

Not to mention the effect he was having on the entire rest of the staff of the SGC.

Currently he was dressing down SG-12's newest member. The general might have been amused under other circumstances. The young lieutenant was getting a primer course on a soldier's bad language. The general had been witnessing the growth of Jack's vocabulary for years. Jack had been a cold warrior. He could have picked up the Russian or the Arabic or the Persian in any number of places. But Hammond was fairly certain they could blame the sheer breadth and depth - Greek, French, German, goa'uld, Spanish, Hindi - on Daniel's bad influence.

"Colonel!" Hammond shouted over him.

Jack broke off and looked up. The lieutenant snapped to attention.

"As you were, lieutenant," Hammond said, taking Jack forcefully by the arm and leading him down the hall.

"This stops now," Hammond hissed. "You go home and sleep, or I'm giving you to Dr. Frasier and she'll make sure you sleep. Am I making myself clear? I don't want to see you on this base for forty-eight hours. Keep your cell phone on. I'll call if there's news."

The general gestured to two airmen on duty at a juncture of the halls.

"Escort the colonel to his car, gentlemen. I want him off this base in fifteen minutes. If he gives you any trouble, I authorize you to restrain him and report with him to Dr. Frazier for further orders. Understood?"

* * *

Daniel walked through the Gate into the SGC and thought how many times this place had looked like the front door of paradise to him. Home safe, was what this drab, nasty little space meant. It had a special place in his heart.

General Hammond stood at the bottom of the ramp, grinning from ear to ear.

"Welcome home, SG-1! You've kept us waiting long enough!"

Sam stopped at the bottom of the ramp and saluted.

"Good to be back, sir! Where's the Colonel?"

"I sent him home a few hours ago. Trust you people to keep him on tenter hooks for days, then appear as soon as he goes home for some sleep."

* * *

They shuffled through the debriefing. It hadn't been a mission per se, and there really wasn't that much to report. Now they were done and Hammond was ready to send them home for a couple of weeks of much needed vacation.

"Well, people…" he began.

"General, can we talk about something else?" Daniel asked quietly.

"Certainly, Dr. Jackson. I just don't want to keep you here longer than necessary."

"I appreciate that, sir. But I was wondering what you're planning to do."

Daniel didn't need to be more specific. They all understood the question he was asking.

Hammond saw the apprehension in Sam's expression, and the stoically blank look that he had learned indicated Teal'c was ready for bad news. And Daniel. Daniel was a cultural anthropologist in the middle of a field study of American military society. Hammond could see that for Daniel the question was more for confirmation of an hypothesis already proposed. Daniel had already accepted defeat.

Hammond looked at his flagship team - with Jack, the luckiest and most gifted group of explorers, he imagined the SGC was ever going to see. No other team in the program had the success rate with both first contacts and tactical missions that this squad could boast.

He sighed and pulled the trigger on them.

"Honestly, Dr. Jackson, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. But my feeling is that for various reasons it's no longer appropriate for you and Colonel O'Neill to serve together in possible combat situations."

"General Hamond, may I speak candidly. And… I believe the phrase is 'off the record'?"

Hammond turned to Teal'c in surprise. He had expected the first argument to be from the civilian on the team, not Teal'c, whom he sometimes thought of as his own First Prime.

"I believe that we can all consider this entire conversation to be off the record Teal'c. Please be as candid as you like."

"I don't understand why you are making this judgment at this time. Surely if you had concerns about the relationship between DanielJackson and O'Neill, you would have separated them months ago."

"Teal'c, not to put too fine a point on this, but one of the reasons our military institutions have so strongly resisted female members over time is the dangerous and detrimental effect inappropriate personal relationships can have on soldiers in harm's way. We have policies to prevent people engaged in…" He groped for an appropriate word, and finally gave up. "We don't usually let two people who are in love serve together. Personal relationships and military ones aren't compatible. Surely you have made similar observations in your own experience?"

General Hammond flinched. He refused to look in Daniel's direction

"Indeed. I am fully aware of your Tauri customs and policies, and they are similar to the Jaffa view. That is why I have been so pleased that you have shown such tolerance with regard to DanielJackson and O'Neill's relationship. I don't understand what has precipitated your need to separate them now."

Now the general was completely flummoxed. He turned to Daniel in surprise, only to find that Daniel himself was staring at Teal'c in shock. Sam was stony faced and silent, but her eyes shifted from Daniel to Teal'c in a way that made Hammond think she was as lost as he was.

"I don't understand what you're trying to say, Teal'c…" he finally admitted.

Teal'c raised one eyebrow in surprise.

"Surely you are aware that DanielJackson and O'Neill have been romantically involved for some time?"

Daniel made a little strangled sound next to him. Teal'c gave him a disapproving glance. When Hammond just stared at him speechless, Teal'c's raised eyebrow turned to an even more disbelieving expression.

"The entire base knows. You can ask any enlisted man in the cafeteria and he'll tell you the various wagers you can join regarding their off world and off-base sexual behavior. Our allies and enemies alike are aware… The Jaffa even have jokes about them."

Their collective response was stunned silence. Teal'c actually gave a tiny huff of exasperation.

"I always assumed you overlooked their relationship because of SG-1's performance. I do not believe I boast when I say that we are consistently your most successful team. I assumed that you let our performance outweigh your lesser concerns about DanielJackson and O'Neill's relationship outside the base."

And then he got it. _His_ First Prime - a man who had arguably outranked General Hammond, as the commander of Aphophis' entire fleet - _his_ First Prime had just offered the general the justification he needed and a possible way out of this mess.

"So you mean to tell me that Dr. Jackson and Col. O'Neill have had a sexual relationship for, what? Months?"

Daniel made another small choking sound and Hammond turned to him. He looked pale and frightened and had apparently completely lost the power of speech.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Jackson, but we are being off the record and candid here and I have to take this opportunity to be sure I fully understand the situation."

He turned back to Teal'c.

"Well? How long has this been going on?"

"I am not certain, as they are actually very discreet when they are here or off world. But I feel confident that they have been intimate since soon after the death of Shau're, and perhaps were… Courting? Is that what you Tauri say? Dating? even before that. O'Neill has clearly been infatuated with DanielJackson for as long as I have known them."

Hammond ignored Daniel, who had laid his head down on his forearms in apparent utter humiliation. The poor man was humming to himself a little.

"Major? Why didn't you report this behavior to me?"

"Don't ask, don't tell, sir!" Sam chirped. "Teal'c's absolutely right. They have never shown any overt signs of an inappropriate relationship while I have been working with them, and what I might or might not suspect about them when they're off base and off duty and on their own time is really not relevant."

"But you suspected?" Hammond pressed her.

"Don't ask, don't tell!" She repeated brightly.

"Alright. A different question. Have you ever seen any indication, particularly in the field in dangerous circumstances, that the two of them were influenced by their affection for each other?"

"Well…" Sam appeared to be considering this question carefully. She was smiling a smug little grin that showed that she had caught on and was now thoroughly enjoying herself. Daniel raised his head in morbid fascination, waiting for her reply.

"Frankly, sir, we're all a little overprotective of Daniel. He's the civilian on the team and the only combat training he's ever really gotten he's gotten from the three of us. I've never seen the Colonel behave any differently towards him than Teal'c or I might and have. And as far as Daniel's behavior is concerned… I've never known him to pull any punches with the Colonel. Have you?"

Daniel made the faintest whimpering noise.

"Fine. So Teal'c, your argument is that this relationship between Dr. Jackson and Col. O'Neill has been ongoing for some time, it's existence has not been detrimental to the performance or safety of this unit, and it's an overreaction for me to take action to stop it now?"

Teal'c inclined his head with the slightest smile. His own equivalent of a smirk.

"I see. Well. I'll take it under advisement, then. Under the circumstances, perhaps it would be appropriate for me to consider being more flexible, as long as SG-1's performance remains exemplary and Dr. Jackson and Colonel O'Neill can maintain the level of decorum they have demonstrated to date…"

Suddenly, all was right with the world. General George Hammond looked them over again. He was fairly certain he had never seen a human being as completely mortified as Dr. Daniel Jackson at that moment, but there was relief on his face, too, so the general allowed a little smile to tug at the corner of his mouth. Teal'c was calm and pleased. Sam was practically dancing.

"Go home, people. I don't want to see any of you for at least two weeks. My captain will call you when I'm ready to put you back on the duty roster. I cannot tell you how delighted I am to have you all home safely and to have successfully sorted _this_ whole business out. Dismissed!"

* * *

General Hammond caught Daniel's arm as he made to flee the room.

"Come with me, son. There's something I want you to have."

* * *

Jack wasn't answering his phone at home, and his cell phone was "unavailable on the network at this time." Dr. Frazier said that she had given Jack some meds to help him sleep. That was probably all it was. Jack was asleep with his cell phone off.

But there was no car in the drive and no lights on in the house.

Daniel stood on Jack's doorstep, weighing his key in his hand. They all had keys to each other's places. You never could tell when you'd end up in an extended stay in quarantine. Or get stuck off world.

Daniel slipped the key into the lock and let himself in.

* * *

Daniel worked all evening, waiting for Jack to come home. Pages and pages of brute translation done on those scrolls from P74-877. Worthless to the cause, as far as he could tell, but fascinating for their content. The kind of thing he probably should have tossed, or at best given to one of his new hires. 1:00 in the morning and still no Jack. Daniel took his most recent copy of _Linguistics Today_ and went to bed.

* * *

"Daniel?"

Jack's voice startled him out of an uneasy sleep. Daniel adjusted his glasses on his nose and then was on his feet just in time to catch Jack as he started to fall.

"Hey, Jack. You OK?"

"Daniel?" he asked again. His voice was slurred and he seemed to be having trouble focusing his eyes. Daniel's first thought was that he must be drunk, but there was no smell of alcohol on his breath.

Or taste of it on his tongue, as he suddenly tightened his hold and kissed Daniel messily. When he broke away to gasp for air, tears were flowing freely down his face. He clung to Daniel like he was trying to get inside his skin, sobbing into his neck, whispering his name over and over.

"Jack, it's alright. Come on, let's get you off your feet." Daniel coaxed him to sit on the bed, an awkward process, as Jack's grip was like iron and he absolutely refused to let Daniel go. They ended up sitting side by side. Daniel wanted to help Jack out of his clothes, settle them both under the covers. But in the end, he just lay down with him, sharing the one side of the bed, breathing the same air with him, noses touching on the pillow. Jack fell asleep almost instantly. When his death grip loosened slightly in sleep, Daniel squirmed around so they could sleep more comfortably spooned together and eventually slipped off to sleep as well.

* * *

Jack was hungry. Jack's head hurt. And Jack felt like he had been in the bed for far too long. Not to mention that his pillow was damp with drool under his cheek. Time to get up.

He raised his hand to rub at his face, and realized something else. There was someone in his bed.

"Hey!" said Daniel softly. "I was starting to worry. I was giving you another hour before I called Dr. Frasier to ask what she did to you." Daniel's hand moved idly through Jack's hair.

Daniel was sitting propped against the headboard. Jack realized with some embarrassment that he was wrapped around him, face pressed into his hip, and arm and leg loosely draped over Daniel's lower body. He began to disentangle himself.

He sat and just looked at him. He had the ridiculous urge to touch him again, reached out to caress his cheek, then stopped himself. He wasn't sure what he and Daniel were to each other now, and this seemed like the wrong way to start figuring it out.  
"Hey. When did you get back? I waited for you for days."

Daniel looked worried.

"We got back yesterday morning. You had just left the mountain, but nobody could reach you. As soon as they got done with us, I came here, but you were already gone. I let myself in... "

Jack wanted to kiss the uncertainty off Daniel's face. To stop himself he had to stop looking. He looked down over himself instead. Apparently he'd slept in his clothes. Maybe Daniel had, too. He looked very sleep-rumpled.

Daniel saw him looking.

"You came in dead on your feet. I thought you were drunk at first, but you didn't -um…" Daniel smiled to himself, his cheeks pinking a bit, "Um… I decided it probably wasn't that. Anyway, you practically passed out and you've been asleep for about twenty hours now."

"Yeah. Frazier said my body was learning to regulate itself again, with the goa'uld control gone. I hadn't slept since I got back and I was driving everyone crazy. She told me to go home, take a double dose of pills, and sleep. But they didn't work. So I got in the truck and drove up to that little lake I like up north of here. I think the pills kicked in on the way back."

"I hope you didn't kill anyone on your way home."

"Yeah, me too," Jack said, running his fingers through his hair.

There was a long awkward pause. Jack felt like he should move. Get them out of the bed, where he was sure they didn't belong. But Daniel seemed comfortable and in no hurry.

"Jack, are you OK?" Daniel finally asked.

"No, I'm not, actually. But I'm getting better," he tried for a reassuring smile, but was pretty sure it came out as a grimace. He rubbed his eyes and temple to indicate a headache. Which was not a deception in the least. His head was pounding.

Daniel bounced out of the bed.

"Did the doc tell you there was anything you shouldn't take?" Daniel asked, as he rummaged through the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. He came out with Tylenol and water.

"Probably I just need to eat," Jack said, taking the Tylenol anyway.

"Well, there's nothing edible here," said Daniel. "I didn't think to stop at the store on the way over, and after I got here, I was too worried to go back out."

"Didn't mean to worry you," Jack said quietly.

"We could go out," Daniel suggested. "We should probably change if we're going to do that. Do you have anything I could borrow..." He was turning towards Jack's dresser.

Jack knew he wasn't going to be able to make it through breakfast. He caught Daniel by the wrist.

"I thought you were dead," he whispered. "I thought I had murdered you. I don't think I can just go out to IHOP and order some waffles."

Daniel turned to look at him. Before he could say anything, Jack continued.

"I'm leaving the SGC," he said. When Daniel's eyes widened in surprise, Jack looked away.

"Jack..." Daniel began. Then stopped. Jack realized he was still holding his wrist. He let go and drew his hands back into his own lap. Daniel swallowed hard and began again.

"General Hammond didn't mention that," he said. "Why are you leaving?"

Jack laughed softly.

"I can't..." suddenly his throat was constricting around the words. He took a deep breath. "I can't command SG-1 anymore. Hammond agrees with me. If he doesn't take me off the team, he'll have to move you. And..." he paused again. Somewhere deep inside he found the courage to look at Daniel again. Daniel, who was watching him with a confused and worried expression. "It's a big universe, Daniel. I don't think I can go out there again without SG-1. Without..." he was stammering. Struggling. Drowning.

And then he had a lapful of archeologist, tipping him over and pinning him to the bed. Filling his mouth with a hot, capable tongue, completely preventing him from saying anything at all.

"You are not leaving the SGC," said Daniel fiercely, breaking off their kiss with a gasp. He tugged Jack's head to the side by his hair and licked a long line around Jack's ear and down his throat.

"He's not going to take us away from you. Remember to thank Teal'c, the next time you see him."

Daniel bit his neck hard, low, almost on the shoulder, and Jack gave a little cry despite himself, squirming as Daniel set his teeth and licked, while roughly working a knee between Jack's thighs. Jack felt Daniel's hand descend over his crotch, not-quite-gently palming his limp cock through his clothes.

His suddenly very interested cock.

"No," he croaked. "Daniel, you have to stop this. I'm not that... that person... that _thing_ anymore. You don't have to do this. Daniel, I want you to _stop_."

He heard his voice growing more frantic by the word, and finally, he lunged against Daniel's weight, twisting and rolling so that Daniel was under him and he could get away.

Except Daniel's arms were around him, strong and unyielding.

"Jack," he said firmly. "I'm not dead. You didn't murder me. You never raped me. You haven't hurt me. Or anyone else. None of this is your fault, but if you leave us now it _will_ be your fault. You'll be hurting all of us."

Jack looked down at him from where he was propped up on his elbows.

"Daniel, I don't know what you think the General is going to do, or what you think Teal'c said... But even if you're right, and Teal'c managed to convince him that the team should stay together, it can't last. Look at us... You just put a mark on my neck that will be getting me wolf whistles for a week. And I want to touch you so badly I can't even make myself get up from this bed."

Daniel smiled up at him then. A seductive smile that was all fangs and glistening eyes.

"You don't have to," he murmured. "You don't have to get up. The General doesn't care."

Jack shook his head.

"He does care, Daniel."

"Nope. He doesn't. Teal'c assured him that you've been screwing me senseless for months. Sam backed him up. I dissolved into a puddle of abject humiliation, but when it was all done, the General agreed that he could live with it, and practically gave us his blessing."

Jack just stared at him.

"You _have_ to be kidding me," he managed to stutter. "What do you mean, 'live with it'? What 'it'?"

Daniel trailed a delicate finger over the stinging bruise on Jack's neck.

"You. Me. Lovers and colleagues. Romantically involved. Having wild monkey sex on our own time. All thanks to Teal'c. And Sam. Teal'c and Sam."

He was smiling so smugly that Jack didn't know whether to kiss him, or turn him over his knee and spank him. His dick told him that either would be alright.

Jack settled for kissing.

* * *

Daniel was sleeping sprawled on the bed next to him. Jack thought he had just passed out completely, happily face down in the wet spot, but as he had eased away Daniel had muttered and squirmed until he could hook his calf around Jack's. Daniel's palm lay flat over the middle of Jack's chest.

 _Then_ he passed out.

Jack smiled to himself, reaching out a long arm and snagging the comforter from the floor by the bed with the tips of his fingers. He thought of all the perfect luxuries of life on the ha'tak and couldn't be happier to have Daniel in his own bed.

He let himself wander through memories of Daniel that he had gotten from the goa'uld. He had carefully avoided doing that while waiting to find out if Daniel was alive or dead. But now Daniel was sleeping safely beside him, and Jack let his mind wander. He thought of Daniel giving in. First angry. Then angry and afraid. Then grieving and defeated. Letting himself reach out for Jack and call for Jack and make love to Jack even when he had no way of being certain that Jack was there. Even when Jack wasn't there. Giving in. Every single time. Except the first time. And the last time.

The first time, Daniel trusted Jack enough to prefer sex with him to sex with his captor.

The last time, Daniel said he wanted him.

The last time Daniel begged him.

But the last time Daniel thought he was about to be abandoned to the enemy.

But _this_ time, Daniel didn't think that. Last night Daniel was happy and open and the only moments of distress were when he was worried about Jack.

Daniel shifted in his sleep, and Jack took the same moment to shift and resettle. He felt achy and stretchy and weirdly slick and loose inside. He wrinkled his nose, realizing he was lying in his own wet spot. He felt a sudden adolescent urge to snicker. Between them, they had cum five times. The whole bed was probably one giant wet spot. He had never imagined that he would want what he and Daniel had done tonight.

"You OK?" Daniel mumbled into the pillow.

"Yeah. Go to sleep."

"Can't sleep with you thinking so loud," Daniel said, wriggling so that he was on his side watching Jack through sleepy eyes, without ever moving his hand or his leg.

"Well, now you know what I have to put up with every time we share a tent," Jack said roughly.

"So?" Daniel prodded him with is foot.

"I was thinking about how the snake screwed with our heads," Jack replied.

"We never wanted this before. Well, I never wanted this before. I mean, maybe I'd think of you... sometimes when I... " he found he couldn't quite say it, and gestured unmistakably with his hand instead. "But I would have never..." and he gestured more broadly. He turned his head to see Daniel, his sleepy, satiated expression, turning wary, and maybe resigned.

"Don't look at me like that! You tell me honestly that you would have spent the night here like this a month ago. Not that a month ago I would have even considered suggesting it."

Daniel shut his eyes.

"No. You're right. We wouldn't have," he admitted quietly. "The snake taught us."

Jack rolled over and catching Daniel by surprise and crushing their tired bodies together.

"And now," he whispered in to Daniel's ear, "I'm not sure I could live without this. I have never, ever, wanted anyone the way I want you. Not Sara. Not anybody. The snake fucked with my head. I know it. But it'd doesn't matter, because it's part of me, and I don't know how to make it go away. I don't even _want_ to make it go away. But that doesn't mean you have to live with it. Or should." He buried his nose in Daniel's hair.

"God, I want you," he confessed, lips moving softly against Daniel's neck. Daniel's arms were tight around him. He pretended not to notice that Daniel cried himself to sleep.

* * *

They stood in the Gateroom. Rested. Refreshed. First mission in weeks. A mission they'd usually give to SG-15 to break in some new recruits, not the kind of assignment usually reserved for SG-1. The whole team knew it, but no one had argued. Daniel would look at a few interesting old buildings. Carter would take a few soil samples. The general would take a deep breath.

Standing in the Gateroom, waiting for their first mission since he'd been a snake.

Standing in the Gateroom after two weeks of waking with the scent of Daniel on his pillow and in his sheets. Two weeks of Daniel's damp towels in the bathroom.

Two weeks of Daniel being his lover.

All of them there, waiting for the gate to dial.

Jack wondered if they could do this. Wondered if he could make this work with Daniel in his bed and the memories of the snake in his head and what seemed like the whole world watching.

Then came the shock wave, and he took the first step up the ramp.

**Author's Note:**

>  **A special note:** I was thinking through Teal'c's argument in my head. I wanted him to make a comment about how the enlisted men joked about Daniel and Jack and their sex life… And it came to me. The perfect comment. The Jaffa even have jokes about them. And for that I must credit Diana and Kelex and their excellent story [Hammurabi's Code](http://dollzone.popullus.net/imperfectenjoyment/story_stargate_hammurabi.htm), in which they wrote this exchange…
> 
> Daniel shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "It's like we're the butt of this big cosmic joke, you know?" He peered up under his wet bangs. "Did you know the Jaffa have dirty jokes about us?"
> 
> "No, but I'll make sure to ask Teal'c about it when we get back," Jack answered, humoring Daniel with a smile. "But if it starts with, why did the Tau'ri cross the road, I'm going to have to hurt somebody."
> 
> 



End file.
